dianegclark

I met Wilson today. I am so in love.

Wilson is a 4 week old golden doodle puppy. He lives with his mother, Dally, a full golden retriever and his 8 brothers and sisters in a family’s garage in Frankfurt Kansas. He currently belongs to Kendra and Rex Michaelis but he now knows that I’m his mommy.

I had gotten three pics of Wilson before today. I spent the afternoon playing with him and cuddling him in the garage and then on the lawn and getting to know his Mama and his owner.

Dally is a six year old sweet, friendly golden. She came up for lots of love and attention and enjoyed being scrached and loved on. She was calm the whole time and obedient to her owner. She apparenlty can tell when her little 4 year old owner is goiog to have a seizure and nudges her to lie down. No one taught her this. Dally is not a large golden, she weighs about 50 pounds. Apparently, Wilson’s father is a standard poodle.

Wilson had a sweet disposition. Some of his brothers and sisters were whiny and less snuggly. Some were more aggressive and playful. Wilson was the biggest glutton. He got IN the food dish and pushed his way first to his mama’s teets when they were available even though they are apparently nonproductive. He snuggled my face and by the end of the day, kept coming back to me. I caught him watching me at one point, too. He nibbled on me a couple of times but wasn’t as nibbly and some of his siblings. I think he’s going to have a wonderful disposition for a pet and hopefully a therapy dog.

Wilson’s owners are experienced breeders but more importantly, they are dog lovers. They don’t do this just for the money. There were three dogs running around, an adorable 4 month Shih Tzu mix and a poodle. Kendra talked about several other dogs they own between the house and the farm.

I spent three hours with Wilson and it was sad to leave. It will be hard not to want to make the trip again to see him before I bring him home in 16 days.

Several years ago I met a miniature golden doodle and fell in love. It was so cuddly and sweet. I knew that when Rex died, I wanted one. They are incredibly hard to find.

Several months ago, I met Obi.

Obi is a Golden Retriever who belongs to my friend Olivia. He has the perfect disposition to be a therapy dog and she has him in training.

So I started the hunt for a Golden. I ran into scams and probably less than reputable breeders. I checked into rescues all over the country.

Just about giving up, I decided to check into KSDS. Apparently I can request a Golden. So I applied, was accepted, and was told the wait is at least 3 years.

A week ago, I saw a post from a friend who has chocolate labradoodle puppies. Thor comes available Dec 20. Labradoodles are big but cute. I talked with her and she said the parents are calm and Thor is a runt. I put a deposit down on him.

Hannah was envious. She said she and Kent are ready for a puppy and are wanting a labradoodle. The price was amazing. I told her I would meet him and decide.

Meanwhile, I made a pro and con list and decided that if it isn’t a Golden, I don’t want to work that hard. I called Hannah and said the dog is hers. She was thrilled.

That night I ran across a Golden for sale about an hour away. I messaged them and they wanted a deposit. I didn’t put a deposit down but said I’d check back when I’m free from covid isolation.

Yesterday morning I woke up to a text saying the puppies had all been placed. I cried a little. I guessed it wasn’t to be.

Later yesterday, someone posted looking for retriever or lab pups. ONe gal responded with this pic:

I messaged her immediately and she messaged back. Its a boy. He lives 30 minutes away and she wants only $900. I gave her my number.

When we spoke, I knew this is the one. He is a golden doodle. His mom is a calm, sweet golden and his dad is a golden doodle. He is available to go home Dec 20. She said that her daughter has seizures and the mama golden can sense them without any training. I put the deposit down right away.

I’m going to potty train him and then we will enroll in puppy kindergarten in Mutt school. It won’t be cheap or easy.

I’ve started listing possible names. Dexter. Wilson. Theo and call him Ted. Joe. Bear. Alfred. Oliver. Griff. Wally.

The time is going so slowly to meet him. I already love him so much.

Birthdays are a big deal to Adelle. Shame starts talking about it and inviting people 11 months ahead. Every year we have done something special, bowling, Pizza Hut, parties. We used to invite one friend and then we invited our church family. The last few years we have had a huge shindig at Pizza Ranch with cake and presents and 30-40 people.

Covid has been hard on Adelle. I stopped getting her weekly but she has continued to go to church weeekly with Kailee. She lost her job. She finally went back to the gym and it has become her life. Special Olympics has tried to do things but is limited. She takes the ATA bus and is besties with all the drivers.

Yesterday for her birthday, I wanted to do something special. So I organized a birthday parade.

The original plan was to have it here at my house. I was going to have her over for pizza and ice cream and Mountain Dew then take her outside and have a giant card in the yard and heave peoeple drive by. With covid, I moved it to her house.

AT lunchtime, I ordered a big cheese pizza, Cinnabon’s, and of rain dew to be delivered to her house.

Amanda put up the giant card. It was big and sparkly and pink.

The parade started with the Fire Department. A fire truck went by with lights on and they yelled Happy Birthday. For the next hour, about 25 cars went by one by one, one with kids and signs in the back of a pick up, many who dropped off gifts, all who yelled Happy Birthday and waved.

Adelle’s and my amazing friends Kailee and Jensrick Altman hung out in the cold for the entire hour with Adelle and videotaped it, mostly so i could join. We went facebook live and she had tons and tons of views and comments.

Adelle is so very loved. Thank you to everyone who made her birtdahy special again this year.

I’m the one who wears her mask and stands off to the side of parties to reduce the risk of covid to others. I’m the one who doesn’t attend group exercise at the gym and when I’ve tried it, I wear the mask except while working out and sanitize the crap off of everything. I’m the one who put her 9 rounds membership on hold because the space is just too small for safety. I’m the one who doesn’t go to meetings or events that aren’t socially distanced. I’m the one who tells my friend to put on his mask correctly. I’m the one whose three month old granddaughter has never seen her grandma’s whole face because of the mask and only looked in her eyes once. I’m the one who has only seen her grandkids a handful of times since covid. I’m the one who has grieved for her brother without the comfort of family gatherings. I’m the one who isn’t having Thanksgiving this year.

But.

I’m the one who does go to the gym at lesser crowded times. I am the one who continues to have coffee dates with friends in person. I’m th one who gets her hair cut and nails done in the salon. I’m the one who can’t resist a hug from a friend I haven’t seen in awhile. I’m the one who asks clients to take off their masks so I can see their faces during sessions and I take mine off too if they say ok (even though I do have an MP 13 filter and we sit 6 feet apart diagonally). I’m the one who continues to have couples over from time to time because I miss them terribly. I’m the one who runs a support group in person even though we meet outside whenever possible and mask up if someone has had a close call.). I’m the one who has been to church in person twice in the last 6 weeks (masked and distanced except for hugs).

Now? I’m the one with covid.

Joel moved into his loft apartment today. What a great place!

First of all, let me say what a pleasure it has been to have Joel here. I saw him at breakfast time and he ate dinner with us every night. And we worked in a game or two of ping pong. Very fun. Joel is a cool breeze. He walked down to close the coffee shop with us a bunch of times.

Joel chose the best possible apartment. It isn’t as cheap as he had hoped but he really got a great place. It’s on the top floor of a brick building with brick walls on two sides. It has huge windows and the best view of any apartment we saw. You can see the river and an airport out the bedroom windows and a huge crane and beautiful gold church steeple on another side. It looks down on yellow trees in a courtyard. When Joel lays in bed, he can look up at the sky through his window.

The apartment has hard wood floors throughout. The ceilings are high, wood with huge beams and the ducts and pipes exposed. The livingroom and kitchen are one big open space. The kitchen has nice cupboards with more space and more counter space than ours here! Joel put his table in the center so it sort of serves as an island. He put his couch in the middle of the room in a great spot.

Today we drove a few block to the nicest grocery store I’ve ever been in. It had luxury lighting and tables and the checkers were incredibly professional and friendly. When ordering our Mac and cheese from the cook, there was an older white lady in front of me. The chef was asking her if she was partaking in the Thanksgiving meal he is providing the community. He said, “I just wanna make sure everyone gets fed.” I stood there with tears in my eyes.

The area around the Lofts looks like fun. The buildings are beautiful. There are apparently walking trails nearby. Its only a few blocks from City Market Square. The courtyard in front of the loft has trees and benches and tables.

I plan to go up and stay with Joel as much as possible. Scott and I can stay in an airbnb there in the same complex. I’ve always liked staying in downtown cities. I enjoyed staying in downtown Omaha with Scott for the week he was in school there. I loved visiting New York with Leah. I went to Cleveland with Alexis for a convention and we stayed downtown. This is going to be fun.

Joel and I traversed to KC to look at loft apartments yesterday. It was so much fun.

We parked in City Market Square and looked at a ground floor unit first. The courtyard and the view from the fitness center over the river were awesome but the apartment was basic. Homey, carpeted, not at all the vibe Joel is hoping for.

Next we went to KC Lofts apartments management office. They own four (?) buildings in the library and garment districts, all several blocks off City Market Square. We looked at so many they all started blurring together. I could have lived in any of them, myself.

Between buildings, we rode with the property manager in a ranger and parked on the sidewalks. It made for a little extra fun.

My favorite was too small for Joel but it was in the oldest building called the New England. Walking in and out of the building and in the hallways alone would make me happy every day. hey were marble and had super cool molding and lighting and doors and floors. The unit itself had a fireplace and a bank vault for the closet but the living space was tiny, tiny tiny. If you had friends over, they’d basically have to sit on your bed with you.

So the until we found that Joel liked best had giant windows, a brick wall and a separate kitchen and bedroom. The view is of a garden and Obote that, cool buildings. It even had a tree that came up past the window. There were features that weren’t perfect, carpet and laminate and the kitchen was awkward, so when the gal mentioned that the unit upstairs on the 7th floor had the same layout except the kitchen was flipped so it could be more open and the floors were all hardwood, he jumped at it. It even has a skylight! So without seeing it, he applied for that one. It comes with super cool amenities and parking.

It would be so cool to live in a loft or to have one to go visit. Wait! WE do! Like it or not, we will be visiting Joel often. It will be so fun to go stay overnight and hang out at City Market Square.

I have mixed feelings about church.

I became a believer as a young adult. Scott and I began attending Westview Community Church soon after being married. We went to church almost every Sunday, went on missions trips and disaster response missions, I taught Sunday school for kids for years. I attended some women’s Bible studies several times over the years and even taught some in my home. We developed many friendships, mostly acquaintances. We raised our kids in the church, from the time they were babies until they stopped attending as teens. In all, we attended Westview for 30 years.

Six years ago, we left Westview to start TRU church with a core group of believers. We were disillusioned? Burned out? Lethargic? About our faith at Westview.

Our experience at TRU was mostly positive. There, we developed close relationships with the worship team, core group, and others. We served on the worship team, the welcome team (me) and the kids ministry (Scott). Scott served on the board. We got involved in almost every special event and meeting. We stepped down when Dave did, in response to some changes an hurtful attitudes. This was a huge loss for me.

In the last year since leaving TRU, I have attended several other churches, looking for an inclusive, progressive vibe and not finding it. I have been through a tremendous amount of pain and personal growth and change over the last few years. My faith has also undergone changes. Disillusionment, healing from shame, rebellion, undoing of hurts.

But I find myself missing community worship, fellowship, group prayer, the teaching of church.

Several Sundays ago I attended Westview again to witness the baptisms of several of our Homestead girls. Of course, I sat in the front row with them. Today I attended again. And you know, I liked it. I felt belonging again, connection, the Spirit.

I enjoyed seeing Devon rocking the worship team (and that outfit). I made a date with an old friend to catch up over coffee. And I got a kick out of the new invention covid safe communion cup. It has the wafer in the top and the juice in the bottom.

I think I’ll go back. I’m not ready to commit to attending weekly or to getting involved quite yet. But I can say that I will be back. I never would have imagined this.

I love my family.

Joel is staying here again as he transitions from living in LA to living in KC. We enjoy having him here. We play ping pong, share meals, and walk to close the coffee shop together at night.

This last weekend, we went to Newton to see the boys. We had a blast. We played and made pancakes. We cuddled Eleanor and rough housed with the boys. Emmet is so loving and smart. Henry is his own person and adorable. Eleanor is so alert and cuddly and strong.

Its not very often lately that I have an entire day with absolutely nothing to do AND am experiencing no FOMO. My social cup is full having spent the entire day at the coffee shop for the Grand Opening and seeing people I hadn’t seen in a while there AND having DAve and Mel and the previous owners of Brothers over for dinner last night. My house is clean, I am rested (slept in til 11!), I’ve seen Mama recently and have two upcoming dates this weeks with her. My to do list for the practice is caught up and other than social media posts (three per day per Ethos and Brothers), i have nothing to do!

I got up late and it was cool in the house and on the patio so I threw on my favorite sweats from Boibs PJ’s All Day line. I spent more than an hour in my “quiet time” and catching up on emails and making the media posts in my current and favorite quiet time chair.

I always start with gratitude which I write with different color markers in my journal, then I do my habit tracker, a list of self improvement goals. Then i check in with myself physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, and spiritually. It is SO important to check in and to know how you really are in each of these areas and then ask what do I need in each area. I try to let that be my guide throughout the week but it doesn’t always work out that way.

My next plan for today is to luxuriate in my second favorite spot in the house, my bed. My windows are wide open with a breeze blowing through.

Here I will read and write and rest and play with Diego. I’ve had a great hug from Scott and he will hang out in the livingroom on his computer and listening to his you tubes music and his audio books. We will hang out at some point today, for sure for dinner, maybe a walk, some yoga.

My current reads are: Come As you Are by Emily Nagowski, Becoming by Michelle Obama, and Twelve Patients, Life at Belle view Hospital, the book the New Amsterdam series is written about. I usually read fictions for pleasure, one book at a time, but my personal self help and professional read list is stacking up so I read three books at a time now.

I may write letters to friends today, I hope to talk to the kids by FaceTime, get some sort of exercise (its been hard to motivate but I really need to get this covid 10 weight off). I will text a couple friends I haven’t seen in awhile.

The week ahead is a busy one. I just accepted my 13th client (intake this week) and have two more who may potentially schedule. I only plan to carry 10-12 clients but since two are bi weekly and one is monthly, I think I’m ok. I get tired easily and I want to find balance. I generally work only 11-4 with time in between clients four days a week and do Homestead group. I am super excited that I have negotiated the lease and the improvements and plan to move into the new space by October 9. My mind is excitedly decorating and planning all day and night.

I have an appointment with mom, couples therapy, a trip to the eye doctor in Topeka with mom this week and then Thursday and Friday I am attending a conference on zoom to learn EMDR and brain spotting with one of my favorite presenters. Heather is going to come over and take the course with me. I’m excited for this!

Then in the middle of the conference, at 2:30 on Friday, Sophie and I are presenting about the book to the Kansas School Social Work Association, also by zoom.

The coffee shop is fun. I do the social media and marketing. Occasionally I make a run for a grocery item or change. I stop down before and after clients to use the restroom and see what’s up. I need to stop eating and drinking there. I love having the shop near my practice. I love to do my notes at the shop and sit outside. Its a great place and I’m super glad we bought it. Once or twice a week, Scott and I walk down there to help with close, carry the tables inside, take the trash out, dispose of the grounds, close out the register, grab a couple muffins for morning.

Life is good. Today is perfect.

Well. We own a coffee shop. It’s a lot. A lot to do, a lot to think about, a lot. But I love it.

Dave is managing it. Scott oversees all the finances and business details. I run the marketing and social media. Did I mention Dave is managing it? What an undertaking. He is rocking it. He manages the staff, the ordering, the supplies, the cleaning, payroll, oversees all that is done in there. He works endless hours. I spend about 2 hours a day all told, less some days, more others. Not all of that is directly in the store. Scott spends about 1 to 2 hours a day on it in addition to his full time job. Dave works there 12 hours a day. Every day.

I love to go to the coffee shop before, between, and after I see clients. Sometimes I sit outside and work. Sometimes I hang behind the counter. I’m being trained on the register, making drinks and baking. The register is confusing disguised as simple. Until today I didn’t really know the difference between a cappuccino and a latte. And today someone ordered a wet cappuccino. What? Apparently it is somewhere between a latte and a cappuccino. There are buttons on the register for brewed drinks, latte’s and specialty drinks. Confusing. Not all the drinks come in the same sizes. So I have to ask, what size, hot or iced, what flavors, what milk. Once they tell me all this and I have to put it in the register in a different order than what they told me, my brain has leaked out what they just told me. Yikes.

Maybe I ought to stick to making the coffee. Ok, grab the cup, the right size, the right type for hot or iced, measure in the syrup, 21, 28 ounces on the scale. Then comes the espresso. Grind the beans, tap it, smash it, (that probably isn’t the coffee shop term for that) and then put it in the thing and push the button. Pour the espresso into the cup and stir it with the little spoon. Then add the milk. Or froth the mild just right (“do you hear the ripping?”) and pour that in the cup. Get the lid, straw for cold, then remember which customer ordered it and go take it to them. Oh wait, knock out the coffee, rinse it in super hot water and wipe it out, clean off the espresso thingy with super hot water and rinse out the cup for the steamed milk. Then take a wet rag in your hand and clean off the steamer thingy by steaming it! Without burning your hand through the rag! Ouch!

Here’s the important part. Try not to eat and drink all the profit. The chocolate chip cookies are absolutely amazing. I love them dipped into a latte. I haven’t even tried all the coffee flavors yet. We hand make them. The muffins, oh my, I ate a chocolate chip raspberry muffin this morning. Unbelievable. I eat a sandwich or a breakfast sandwich about 3 times a week. I can even make them myself.

Scott and I go close about three times a week. We walk down to the shop at 10:00, take out the trash, wipe down things, carry in all the tables and chairs, dump the grounds and rinse the bucket, plug in the iPad, Scott closes out the register and gives the girls their tips. (I made a bunch of tips today even though I was messing up people’s orders).

We have amazing employees. Today I helped Joy bake chocolate chip cookies for a catering deal we have tomorrow. We can only bake 8 cookies at a time in the two tiny ovens. Every cookie weighs exactly 81 grams. The whole coffee shop smelled amazing. It smells amazing every day anyway, like coffee, but today it also smelled like baking cookies. We sell a lot more cookies while they are baking. I tease people that it is a subliminal message, they don’t really have a choice.

I love doing the social media. I post three or four times per day. So far I haven’t run out of ideas to post. Today I took pics of all of the people there. We had quite a diverse group today, age and race. Everyone was happy to have their photo taken. I said, “Brothers Coffee. A great place to…. work, study, date, meet, spend a Saturday afternoon.”

People say they love the vibe at the shop. I do too. It’s laid back but bright and cheery at the same time. It’s quiet but not like a library. People are spaced apart so you can have a private conversation. And on gorgeous days, the outside seating is perfect. It’s off the beaten path but you can still people watch.

I’m excited to start singing with Dave at the shop more as soon as things calm down a bit.

We feel like we are at least breaking even every day. That’s pretty amazing for being open one month and it still being during covid. We have had unexpected expenses like having to get a new ice machine and replace some other key things. It’s hard to know how much to spend on promotional items. We are purchasing our second order of t shirts and also ordered some stickers. We are getting our loyalty program up and running. We will have a pay it forward plan which I’m pretty excited about. We are purchasing refillable tumblers for every staff and student at MCC (with help from a friend) and hopefully will be sponsored to put a coupon for free coffee inside. We’ve had a lot of free advertising with Dave being interviewed by the Collegian, several radio stations and WIBW. We kept the crowd from Sparrow and are building on it. We almost always have people in the shop and many times it’s full. Our conference room is being reserved and we are getting catering orders. We haven’t even started selling beans (coming soon) and plan to do a whole online ordering and online merchandise store. We also hope to have live entertainment.

We have our grand opening this next Friday. Lots of things to plan and get ready for. So exciting!

So far I love owning a coffee shop.