Monday, June 1, 2009

Today is Monday, so that means I make soap. If the oils come today, it will be Berry Pickin'. That one was a surprise best seller this spring. You never know what people will want and it's hard to limit what we take because I love them all. I am getting ready to work on the fall and Christmas scent candles. I made a batch of Apple Jack 'n Peel last night and then remembered that the candles are now stored separately from the rest of the products because they are so heavy. Soooooo, I guess we are all set for that fragrance.

I need to finish the inventory from last week and make the adjustments on the website. The girls and I have started the Christmas stockings for next fall. We decided to put another ad in Country Sampler this year. It is smaller and less expensive. I'm not sure how much traffic last year's ad generated, but we always like to try things at least 2 years before making a decision. The ad pretty much wiped out our operating fund, but hopefully we will make some sales during the summer to cover the rest of next fall's expenses. Thanks to a fortuitous find last year, we are all set on yarn for the stockings.

The choir and I will be rehearsing again this week and then next week we begin recording. I'm nervous about this venture, but also excited. We've never done anything like this and in this economic climate, the financial outlay is a little intimidating. But I'm confident that this effort in John's memory will be blessed and be a success.

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Word of the day:
Monday of the Ninth week in Ordinary Time
Today the Church celebrates : St. Justin
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 12:1-12.

He began to speak to them in parables. "A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and left on a journey. At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants to obtain from them some of the produce of the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent them another servant. And that one they beat over the head and treated shamefully. He sent yet another whom they killed. So, too, many others; some they beat, others they killed. He had one other to send, a beloved son. He sent him to them last of all, thinking, 'They will respect my son.' But those tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' So they seized him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. What (then) will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come, put the tenants to death, and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this scripture passage: 'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes'?" They were seeking to arrest him, but they feared the crowd, for they realized that he had addressed the parable to them. So they left him and went away.

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