Category: business

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Moving right along

Boy I tell you what, these guys are working like mad men and on the weekend at that.  I am totally amazed at what they have gotten done in just a couple of days.  It’s a shame you can’t find good help like these guys on every job but there seems to be more that want to earn big bucks for doing nothing.  I’m sorry but you have to work in this world if you want to make something of yourself and for yourself.  That’s what my father taught me.  It’s a shame it’s not still being taught.

As fast as they are moving, I need to start looking at flooring, kitchen appliances, kitchen and bathroom cabinets, lighting and so much more.  I have decided that I’m not going to paint the walls with anything but the primer and then let who ever moves in pick out the colors they want and then paint the rooms.  I hate everything one color.  I do like a white room but not everyone does.  If I was to choose my colors, someone else might think it’s ugly to them.  Everyone is different in how they like their living space decorated so I will at least let them paint their own apartments.

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Plans in hand and materials on the property

Well I have the plans for my new project in my hands and all the rough in materials are on the property.  I have all the proper permits, the electrician has been contracted, the plumber and carpenters too.  I’m on a roll.  I found the best web site that helped me to find everyone that I needed to get this project started.  It still amazes me at just what you can find on the Internet.  Seek and ye shall find I guess, huh?

Now comes the fun part, picking out all of the lighting, the bathroom and kitchen fixtures, the kitchen appliances and cabinets, counter tops and boy do I have a lot to do.  I bet I can find everything I need right here online too.  First of all I’ll go by our local building supply store and get the prices on what I want.  That way I can shop around online and see if I can get it or something comparable to what I want any cheaper.

This is the bath tubs I want installed.  I have one similar myself in my bathroom.  What do you think?  I just love those claw and foot bath tubs with the old English telephone faucets.  I found this one at vintagetub.com.  They have some beautiful bath tubs on there.

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Getting the plans all drawn up

I have a friend that’s an architect and he knows how to design what I want.  After all, that is what an architect does, you know.  Of course you know that.  That was sort of a dumb thing to say but anyway.  I told him what I want and he checked out the upstairs of my business and said it wouldn’t be a problem at all.  He asked what I had in mind and when I told him, he said that he would have the complete plans to me by Wednesday or Thursday at the latest.

He did tell me to check and make sure I could get the permits to do what I wanted.  Well I made some phone calls, went down to the tax office and paid for all the permits I’m going to need.  It was relatively painless too.  They have to come inspect everything once I get all of the blueprints and they have to check them out too.  If everything is as they think it should be, we could be building as early as this weekend.

My architect said that he would call around and find the best deal for me on the materials because he can probably get them cheaper than I ever could with his ‘clout’ around here.  Hey, saving money is my middle name.  He’ll call me tomorrow with the estimate on the materials too.  So now that I have the ball rolling, it’s just about time to start shopping for lighting, ceiling fans, appliances……….no I think he even said he could get those at a discount too.  Sounds good to me.  I’m getting excited about my new project.

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I’m thinking about building some apartments

I have a house behind my business and and there’s room above my place of business to build about 4 small apartments that my employees could live in.  I’ve hired a handy man to do the work for me.  He’ll start in the morning.  What I want is 2 one bedroom apartments, 1 two bedroom apartment and 1 three bedroom apartment.  I have one single lady working for me with a couple of kids.  She’s having trouble making ends meet trying to pay rent and drive 30 miles to work.  She has to live that far away because the rents cheaper there.  Well I’ll fix that.

Each room will have ceiling fans to make them more energy efficient.  I can’t wait to start picking out everything.  I’ll have to pick out bathroom fixtures, flooring and I don’t want any carpet either.  I like the laminate floors.  They can get an area rug if they want carpet.  This is going to be a lot of fun for me and my employees are even going to come in on their time off to help my handy man so it can get finished sooner.  I told them that if they do, I’ll give them the first months rent free.  It’s the least I can do.

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Won’t be long now

Well it won’t be long before the new President is sworn in.  I sure hope he has some good plans to get things back up and running.  There are so many people without jobs and a lot more that are worrying that they’re about to lose their job.

The stock market took it’s toll on every one’s 401K so there are probably a lot of people that were thinking about retiring this year that are having to rethink that.  With all of the bail outs that everyone is asking the government for, I don’t know if we will ever get the National Debt down again or not.  All we can do is hope and pray that this man will do what he said he’ll do.  I think he’ll try awfully hard anyway.

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Well the new years starting off good

Thanks to my little Angel Tree and a lot of help from local business owners, there are several families with new jobs, and new hope.  I told you that someone donated $100 to each family, well one of the families used the money to buy paint to help get their house back to looking like a home.  They had been living with nothing but dry wall on the walls for about year now.  Now it’s beginning to feel like home to them again.

Another family used the money to buy a bigger used refrigerator.  They had been using one of those dorm type refrigerators.  They traded it in to a used appliance store and put the $100 with it and got a full size refrigerator.  That will help them save money by not having to go to the store as often.  They’ll save a lot of gas.

I am just overwhelmed by what these people have done with the help of my little Angel Tree.  I’m even thinking of putting up one for Easter.  There’s still a lot that need help and that’s one way to help without them feeling like they’re getting a hand out, just a hand up.

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My heart overflows

I have so many ‘Thank You’ cards along with Christmas cards that my heart overflows with the spirit of not only Christmas, but also the spirit of God.  Dinner last night was perfect.  We had gumbo, turkey, dressing, ham, candied yams, green beans, corn, dinner rolls, and more food than I can remember.  I don’t think I will be able to eat again for a week after all of that.

The children’s faces were just as I imagined they would be.  Every family brought their camera to me and I can’t wait to get them developed.  Families were coming up to me with tears in their eyes and thanking not only me but the whole community.  Some got job offers, everyone got a crisp new $100 bill, thanks to someone very special.

There was not a child that didn’t get ‘exactly’ what they wanted according to them.  There were more gadgets and toys in there than you can believe.  Each child brought their favorite toy if they could.  Some couldn’t because it was a bicycle or a game system but they made sure to bring their next favorite toy to show me.  Life is good here in Louisiana.

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The magic of the season

Christmas has long been a magical season and this year is no different.  The whole community has pitched in to help me with all the ‘Angels’ on my tree.  Some businesses have donated items.  Some businesses have offered jobs.  Some businesses have donated food, and there is even a celebrity, which I promised not to name, that has donated $100 to every family that has an Angel on my tree.  God has blessed this little tree in ways I never imagined.

I am so proud to live here in New Orleans.  I am so proud of the people of New Orleans as they have pulled together to see to it these families and mostly the children, will wake up Christmas morning to a wonderful surprise from Santa.  There are PSP’s, Game Boys, Wii’s, MP3 players, DVD players, TV’s, PS3’s, and more gadgets than I know what they are.  Guess I’m getting old when I don’t recognize some of the presents we’re giving out, ya think?

Oh well, I’ll know it’s the right thing with all the smiles.  Oh each family is getting a disposable camera that they are to bring back to me so I can get the pictures developed.  Of course I’ll get double prints and maybe more because I want a picture of the children’s faces, and I also want to send ‘Thank you’ notes to the many people that donated along with a picture of the smiling faces of the children they helped to make this Christmas special for.  Then of course, the parents need a copy of their pictures too.

I’m worse than the kids beacuse I can’t wait!!!!!!

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A little something from me

I know you have seen those portable DVD players.  I just found a heck of a deal on them and bought every one they had.  They had 30 of them.  That way, I can give them to some of the kids on my Angel Tree.  Some of them don’t even have a TV in their home so this will give the something to look at and occupy their time when they don’t have any homework that is.

With each one, I’m also giving a gift certificate for 5 DVDs.  The kids can pick them out themselves so they get something they like or wanted to see.  There’s a local DVD rental store that said they have several used DVDs that they get rid of once they have been rented so many times but the DVDs are still good.  They told me that I can pay for the DVDs after the kids pick them out.  See some are more than others.

Hey, I just got a call from the DVD rental store and they’re going to donate a new DVD to each kid that gets one of the DVD players from me.  That just made my day.

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I thought I was seeing things

SNOW…………..in New Orleans!!!  You got it. The rare snowfall has triggered crashes on major highways and left thousands of people without power.  Schools, government offices and bridges have been closed.  Snow just isnt’ something that we usually deal with so basically we don’t know how to do anything in it except maybe make a snow ball and hit someone with it.

The heavy band of snow coated windshields and grassy areas in New Orleans, where about an inch accumulated.  A peak of eight inches was reported in the town of Amite, about 75 miles northwest of New Orleans. Boy am I glad we didn’t get that much.  There would have been accidents everywhere because we have nothing to remove snow.  It was pretty though!!  See!!