We’re letting the first customer in the Carrollton store (we open at 11:00 today, remember) decide what’s on sale to day.

And we’re in the process of moving from one web server to another, so there are a few hiccups still being worked out. If you can’t order a class, (not that there are many left this year) please call the store where the class is being held.

You may have noticed that I seem totally unable to actually deal with this on time.  Story of my life, really.

So, in recognition of my failing, the first person through the door gets to pick what’s on sale today.  Any category (except sterling and gold, sorry lots) that the first person picks will be 25% off. 

And the Christmas beads and kits are half price.  And the Swarovksi Christmas Trees are 25% off.

Both Artful Bead stores offer gift certificates for sale in any amount.  We will even sell you one over the phone and mail it to someone for you!

And to help out just a little bit with your holiday shopping, we’re giving you a FREE $10 gift certificate for every $50 gift certificate you buy!  So buy a $100 certificate, we’ll either bump it up to $120 or give you a second $20 certificate that you can give to someone else, or use yourself!  (This special ends December 24th.)

It’s the perfect thing for the beader who doesn’t have everything!!!

(Sorry, we had a slight server collapse, and when they restored the files, we lost the original Days of Christmas.  So this is as best as I can remember.)

Jordan had a brilliant idea – Starting Friday December 11th, there are 12 more shopping days in the Fort Worth Artful Bead store until Christmas!  12 days (OK, 14 on Carrollton, but we’re pretending not to notice that) of special sales!

And we decided to be spontaneous, and just decide each morning what will be on sale that day.   It might be stones 25% off.  It might be seed beads.  It might be 40% off one item!  Who knows?  And because we’re slightly disorganized, we aren’t plotting this all out in advance, and we’re not doing the same thing in both stores. 

Fort Worth isn’t telling ANYBODY what the sale of the day is unless they come in.  (I was called a weakling, a woosie, and a weenie for saying I would post it here from 9 to noon each day for Carrollton.  And then the server died…  Hm.  This is starting to smell like a Conspiracy!!!)  Sorry, back to the Main Message.

So come on in and see us, find out what the sale is, and have a great time!

(I’m sure the original post was better, but I never make backups or notes.)

I know I have a problem with Tuesdays.  It’s nothing new, it’s just that sometimes I wish they wouldn’t be so… well, problematic.

Like this one.  I woke up too late, having missed the cats’  quiet “Excuse us, but it’s time for breakfast please” and they had progressed to “EXCUSE MUCH??  What’s the deal here Two-Legs?  You get up NOW and make with the kibble delivery pronto or we’re going to have to revisit The Deal*!!” before I heard them.

Then I ran to the bank (out of quarters? You have less than 25 inventory items.  How can you be OUT of one of them?) and then got to the store a bit late.  To find out that we had run out of computer-printable labels.  Nothing quite as much fun as having your minions glare at you with that “oh-n0-we-aren’t-handwriting-850-labels-no-way-boss-lady” look. 

So I trot off to the office supply store.  And of course they are out of the correct size of computer-printable labels.  But while I wander around looking in every crevice just in case some are hiding somewhere, I realize that because I was late getting up, I didn’t pay attention when I reached for the underwear.  I grabbed the quitter drawers.  You know, those ones where the elastic gives up about 2 hours into the day, and you spend the rest of the day shoving your index finger into your waistband to hook the top edge and haul them back up before they puddle down inside your jeans. 

It’s difficult to look cool and classy while dragging at your underwear.  And it makes me just a bit crabby.  OK, a lot crabby.

And after we close the store, I run by the post office and the grocery store, pick up some take-out (because after buying groceries who wants to cook?) and go home.  To find that I left the bedroom door open, and cats have been sleeping on my bed all day.  They all head for the kitchen, except for the black mini-panther.  He remains sprawled on my pillow, smiling at me.  (Yes, some cats smile.  Smart people worry when their cats smile.)  We have dinner and catnip and watch TV.

I didn’t find the half-a-tree-roach under the covers until much later that night.   See?  I should’ve worried about that smile.   But it was still Tuesday.  I don’t like Tuesdays so much.

*”The Deal” agreed to by the two Original cats in 1989 (and agreed to by all subsequent additions on their second birthdays) states that the Humans in the household agree to provide two meals a day (no cheap food), medical care, scratching posts, clean litter boxes, sparkle-balls, furmice, catnip,  ear-scritchies and tummy-rubs as requested by The Cats.  In return, The Cats agree to purr at least twice a day and to wait until we stop moving to eat us.  To that end, Bear (the black mini-panther one) will on occasion bite a finger, earlobe, or toe if it’s been still too long.  Just to make sure, you know.

It’s starting to look a lot like Christmas at both Artful Bead stores now!  And we know how short both time and money are for everybody just now, so we’ve  come up with some great presents at great prices.

We’ve got the glittery Swarovski crystal Christmas tree earrings in several colors, like bright green, lovely dark green, clear crystal and even some that look like those great aluminum artifical trees of  the 1960’s! 

We’ve got angel earrings and wonderful jingly Christmas charm bracelet kits.  And we’ve got 10 different designs for 10 quick presents that are under $10 each!  Bracelets, bookmarks, necklaces – something for everyone!

We’ve got some great large-hole beads to make knotted leather bracelets, and several sizes and colors of leather to put them on.   

And we’ve got the know-how to help you make those gifts so you can say “I made it just for you!”

Don’t forget we’ve got gift certificates in any denomination, so you can make your family’s shopping easier too!  And we’re not in a mall!