From a Cluttered Desk

I am Tammy Cardwell, she of the cluttered desk. (Hey, you think I'm kidding?!) I'm having a blast here in Blogland and invite to you to peruse my ramblings. Like a buffet, they offer variety - essentially whatever makes it to the top of the piles that sometimes clutter my brain. We'll eventually cover it all - homeschooling, God, our church, the Eclectic Homeschool Online, books I'm writing and publishing, conferences I speak at, the joys of grandmotherhood, and hopefully chocolate. Of course, this is only what's near the top now. Who knows what's in those piles?

I’m still offline and at this point don’t know when I’ll be back. I hate admitting that, especially since it’s been two weeks already, but reality is reality as hard as it can be to accept at times.

Still Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

I’m offline and don’t know how long I’ll be offline. Since I have a few minutes on another computer, I checked for comments needing approving - they were all spam. No surprise there. I can’t say how long I’ll be offline; it’s strictly a budget thing and that’s…well…yeah.

Being offline has left me with a lot of time to get other things done. I did start another readthrough of the Bible on May 28th. I’m using my chronological Bible (NLT) and as of yesterday I’ve finished through what would have been April’s readings. That’s Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I Samuel, most of II Samuel, a chunk of I Chronicles, all of Job, several of the Psalms.. I’m doing something different this time, actually marking off the Bible chapters and books as I finish them, and when you put everything in chronological order you really do get bits and pieces from all over and seemingly out of order. The most surprising was that I might get a snippet from I Chronicles 12 before I’d get one from chapter 3 and then one from 9 followed by one from 5. For some reason, I always assumed that Chronicles was in chronological order, but it’s not.

I realized yesterday that reading the Bible through repeatedly is really helping me make new connections and retain what I’m reading. It makes sense, of course. If you like to reread certain novels (And I do), you eventually ‘know" them. That is happening with quite a bit of the Bible and I’m thrilled to see it. I may well keep reading this way until Jesus comes back!

One more quick note and then I’m out of here until whenever.

For those who, like me, live on a dime, I’d like to recommend ZenniOptical.com. Both my sister and a friend have ordered from them so, since buying eye glasses locally was not an option, I ordered a pair. I wear bifocals now and have a pretty strong prescription. Even so, this set of glasses - with progressive bifocals, scratch resistant coating, a pair of clip-on-shades, hard case, and shipping - was only $50 and some change. They arrived in about 10 days and work wonderfully even though I am having to learn to wear bifocals for the first time. My only regret with them is that I couldn’t get high index lenses, so these lenses are really thick, but that’s a small price to pay when you consider how much less they cost than anything I would have bought locally.

And my time is up. I’ll see you the next time I’m able to get back online.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

I’m sure it’s not escaped the notice of enthusiasts like myself, but in case it has let this be your warning that Bath & Body Works’ Semi Annual sale is in full swing. It started on Monday the 2nd and our store has been BUSY ever since. This is why you’ve seen so little of me; I’ve been putting in a lot of hours (For which I am VERY grateful!). The sale goes through July 6, so don’t expect much from me between now and then.

So I thought I might take a few minutes to share tips for shopping this sale. After all, if you want BBW products you want the best deal and the best experience you can get, right?

First, allow yourself time to really shop. At this point, on top of all the other sales we have happening (As of today: aromatherapy is buy 2 get 2, wallflowers are all $5, bubble bath is 3 for $10, select travel sizes are 5 for $5, antibacterial soap is on sale, shampoos and conditioners are on sale, glycerin soaps are $1….tons more) we have one 50% off table and three 75% off tables.

When you’re at the 50% and 75% off tables, DIG. We’re restocking on a continual basis, and as we put new product out we just dump it on top. This means you usually end up with layers of product in those bins. If you don’t do anything but glance at the Breathe products that cover the top of the bin, you may well miss Savannah Bee, classic scents, aromatherapy, and who knows what else underneath that top layer.

Which brings me to… No, in many cases we won’t be able to tell you if we have something. There are some things we know for a fact we do have because we’ve seen them. Too, there are things we know we don’t have, because we all know that they’ve not come through the store, but in many cases we may think we’ve sold out of something only to later see one or two pieces rise to the surface of a bin. Too, as hard as it is to believe, we are getting returns, and returned product gets put out for sale. So if you were told fifteen minutes ago that "No, I don’t think we have any" and the lady next to you digs one out of the bin, you’re not facing a lazy sales associate; she just REALLY didn’t know it was there. We don’t have Xray vision any more than anyone else.

And yes, things do get put into bins they don’t belong in. We try hard, but it is impossible to guarantee that some (I won’t use the word lazy…I won’t) customer didn’t just dump things she didn’t want into the 75% off bin. That doesn’t mean they’re 75% off. It means she couldn’t be bothered to take the time to at least hand them to an associate who could have put them back where they belonged. Please don’t get angry because they were in the wrong place; we’re trying, I promise!

And since I’ve already brought it up, please don’t dump things where they don’t belong. You have no idea how hard this makes our lives. I mean REALLY. You can’t imagine how angry people can get when they pluck a full-sized tub of Japanese Cherry Blossom body butter up out of the 75% off bin only to learn that it’s not 75% off. Yes, it’s on the wall. Yes, it should be obvious that it’s not on sale. Yes, people can get really ticked off anyway. Tempers can be short in busy stores regardless, but having one customer make another customer mad at us…yeah, that gets really frustrating.

And speaking of having one customer make another mad… If you MUST open product to smell it, please close it, really close it. I blogged about this during the last sale. The messes we clean up that never should have been made totally astound me. So do people who will open a closed product, put some on themselves to test it, and then turn around and NOT buy the product they’ve just opened, but buy an unopened one instead. HUH?!?!?!?!

READ THE SIGNS. This is a huge part of shopping this sale properly and not getting frustrated. As I said earlier, our bubble baths are 3 for $10 right now. The signs very clearly state that it is the BUBBLE BATHS that are 3 for $10. Unfortunately, I’ve rung up multiple people who only saw "3 for $10" and assumed that applied to all of our signature products. Fortunately, I’ve only noticed one person a little grumpy when she learned the truth… I don’t understand such grumpiness, really. If you are the one who didn’t take time to read the sign, how can you get mad because it says what it says instead of what you wanted it to say?

Speaking of reading signs…

We are not Kroger. I know that at Kroger if it says "10 for $10" that means the products are $1 each. This is not the case in all other stores and definitely not the case in ours. When the sign on the table says "5 for $5" that means you have to buy 5 items in order to get them for $1 each. I’ve so completely lost count of the number of people who didn’t get that… totally lost count. I’ve sent multiple people back to that table with the explanation, "Ma’am, this tube of moisturizer is going to ring up at $6 unless you go get 4 other items." At first I really was confused by their seeming inability to understand a very clear sign, and then I remembered Kroger. I guess we have a lot of customers that shop there. LOL!

Oh, and the 5 for $5 items really are limited to what’s on the table. It is SELECT (read: discontinued) travel products that are on sale. Current travel size products will ring up at the usual prices.

And speaking of those multiples sales…where you buy so many and get a certain discount. At BBW, you aren’t limited. By this I mean that if the antibacterial soaps are 7 for $20, you don’t have to stop at 7 bottles. You can get 8, 9, 10, 42…and they’ll all ring up at the sale price. The same holds true for that 5 for $5 table, of course. Once you get 5 items (And again, please remember that people are forever putting things on that table that do not belong.), the 6th, 7th, 8th… they’ll all ring up for $1 each.

Our stock changes daily. We’ve been getting around a hundred boxes in each shipment and putting those boxes out just as fast as we can. This means that if we don’t have that magnolia blossom shower gel you’re looking for today, we may well have it tomorrow. The true BBW aficionado knows to check at least three times a week so that she catches the specific products she’s looking for. 

Please be prepared to wait at the register. At semi-annual sale, checkout lines are a given and it’s best to just accept this fact. People buy more products because they’re on sale. When they make mistakes in their purchases those mistakes have to be dealt with. When products don’t have skew stickers, someone has to go get product that is stickered so that the register can read it. Transactions take time. Rather than get frustrated, why not strike up a conversation with the person next to you in line? You never know when you’ll learn about the one sale item you want most of all and somehow missed (Yep, I’ve seen that happen a lot too.).

Semi-annual sale is a blast. And by that I mean it’s great fun for me, even when my feet are screaming in agony because I’ve been on them for hours on end. The atmosphere is charged and the people are full of excitement. We all enjoy seeing what new goodies came in today’s shipment. We take special pleasure in pointing out sales people didn’t notice….

I love my job.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

Someone just sent me a link to this video and I had to share. I love my country and so very much appreciate what every soldier has ever done to preserve the freedom I too often take for granted that…well, let’s just say I wish I’d had a box of tissues handy.

You’ll find this video at WhatKindofWorldDoYouWant.com

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

When we read C. S. Lewis’ The Magician’s Nephew, we witness the creation of Narnia, along with its talking animals. I’ve always been especially fond of Lewis’ talking animals, having appreciated his thoughtfulness in providing kids like me (Yep, I discovered Narnia when I was MUCH younger) with something in which we would  take special delight. Considering things I’ve noticed in the past week, though, I can’t help but wonder if, perhaps, this detail was more than simple creativity on his part.

We all know the story of Balaam and his donkey, of course, so we realize that at least one animal has talked in the past. In fact, we know of at least one that talked earlier than that. In rereading the Genesis account of man’s fall, you encounter the talking serpent. Most of my life it has been presented as Satan incarnate, so I’ve always read that passage with this detail in mind, that it was the devil talking rather than a simple snake. This time through, though, I was struck by three points.

The first thing I noticed (Something I’ve seen how many times, without really seeing it?) was that the serpent is referred to as the most cunning (or whatever word your translation uses) of all the animals. What? Cunning animals? If it was the most cunning of all the animals, then there were at least some other animals that were cunning. But how would you know if an animal is cunning if it couldn’t talk? (Well, I know my cats are cunning, but go with me here.)

And then I thought back to God’s creation of the animals and recognized something else. The implication is that God created the animals to provide companionship for Adam. Now, men who don’t much care for talking might disagree with me, but it seems to me that if God were really going to create a companion for a man, it’s not at all unreasonable to think that the companion would need to be able to speak.

And then there’s the detail that really made me sit back and consider.

Eve wasn’t surprised by the fact that she was conversing with a serpent. Neither was Adam, who was right there with her.

So I can’t help but wonder. Was C. S. Lewis onto something?

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

This is your official heads up that my blog posts are going to be few and far between for a while. Semi-annual Sale has begun at Bath and Body Works and so far I’ve worked every day this week. I’m thanking God for lots of extra hours - got called in on Monday, worked yesterday, stayed over several extra hours today…

But it does mean there’s much less time for everything else that has to be done, so if you don’t hear from me for a while…

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

Every Christian has a testimony and hopefully has many chances to share it with those who need to hear. This video was recorded in a service at Hillside Christian Church, Amarillo, Tx 79119 (806-457-4900) and is one of the most powerful "testimony times" I’ve ever seen.

And yes, I also agree with what he says at the end.

I’d really like to see the whole service.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

I’m late on this, because going on the cruise got me so behind on email and I only just found the article, but for the benefit of those who have followed the Amazon.com POD junk here, I thought I should share.

I’m chuckling here.

I’ve been catching up on I Can Has Cheezburger and found this reminder of when my youngest son was taking piano. The one piece he wanted most to play was…

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

Well, I’ve done it. Today I finished reading the book of Revelation in The Message Bible. When I began, I knew I wouldn’t be able to read it in 90 days like those people I had read about online, but I wanted to see just how much of a difference it makes when you read the whole Bible through in a much shorter time. I ended up reading it in 160 days and let me tell you, the difference is TREMENDOUS.

I’ve shared bits and pieces as I went along, so those of you who have been following know that from Genesis 1:1 I noticed a difference. The Bible as a whole really does have a great impact when you read it AS a whole, quickly, instead of a bit here and a bit there, now and then. I’d had one friend question my ability to notice the details when I was reading it so quickly (Quickly being a relative term; since it took 160 days I was obviously not skimming), but if anything I would say I noticed more details than when I’d been reading it through in a year or more. I most definitely made more connections than I’ve ever made before, because passages and facts from earlier books stood more clearly in my mind while doing my current reading.

Having just finished Revelation, obviously today’s thoughts are on the end times and the second coming of Jesus. Backing up even further, one of the things that really stands out when you read the New Testament as a whole, rather than in bits and pieces, is that every writer was anxiously awaiting Jesus’ return, expecting it any minute and urging his readers to do the same. People today, when you tell them that Jesus could come back at any time, tend to say, "Oh, people have been saying that for years."

Yep, they have, they’ve been saying it for around two thousand years, actually. But think about this. If these early writers, some of whom saw Jesus face-to-face, felt it was vitally important to be watching, so important that they reiterated it again and again in their letters, how can we not be doing the same? The fact is that eschatologists all pretty much agree that the pre-Rapture prophecies have been fulfilled and the time has to be extremely close. Responsible Christians, those who keep the Second Coming (BTW, the Bible speaks more of Jesus’ second coming than His first) firmly in mind, won’t just coast through life; we’ll be actively going about Kingdom business.

Which reminds me of the verse God gave me for this year - my verse for the year…instructions, if you will.

"…to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." Luke 1:17

There really is no time to lose. It is time and past time for the individual members of the Body of Christ to wake up, stand up, and take part in what God is doing in the world.

And now I’m going to go pull my One Year Chronological Bible (NLT, if you’re interested) back out and start over with Genesis 1:1. Knowing what I’ve learned about the benefits of accelerated reading, and knowing how much I still have to learn about and from God’s Word, I want to see how much more I can gain by reading it through quickly, in chronological order!

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

PS: On End Time stuff… A friend recently reminded me that the Mayan calendar ends on December 21, 2012. I think that’s rather interesting, given what’s going on in the world today.