Just one week of quiet left

My Daughter Becky and her family - Jon and his 9 year old daughter Madeline are coming to stay for Christmas vacation - from Thursday till Christmas night. I am really looking forward to seeing them, Becky hasn't been home for over a year, and Jon and Madeline have never been here yet.

Well I just found out that we are also having 8 adults and 2 children and one dog from OK (Jon's family come to visit) will be here Friday evening - Sunday. On top of the fact that I am hosting the BIG family Christmas Dinner on Saturday.

So the reclusive massage therapist/quilter is going to be hosting a dinner for anywhere between 35 and 40 people. wow

And my poor cat Callie will be totally terrorised to have a dog in the house - not to mention the people.

I may not post too much that week.

cancelations

Here is it Wednesday after the ice storm and all my clients cancelled today, I had one on Monday and one on Tuesday. I expect at least half to cancel tomorrow and if we get the bad weather they say we might tonight they probably will all cancel.

Wow, winter can be harsh in so many ways. I was feeling sorry for myself for awhile today, I need to hire someone to clean up the numerous downed branches in the yard and the money just isn't coming in when I need it to. So I think, I need to remember that other people have it much worse than I do - so many around here have no power, heat or decent water right now. I am warm, dry and fed so I am good.

I have a week to get ready for my daughters visit from CA and I am not even close to being ready. But I just finished my last customer quilt, at least until someone else shows up with a last minute project they want done.

Massage in winter

We had an Ice storm/freezing rain Sunday and today (Monday) and my yard is totaly littered with broken branches. I am fortunate that my power was only off for a few hours on Monday because I know there are a lot of communities around here that have been out since Sunday morning and don't know when it will be back on.

We had another ice storm last January and there was wide spread tree damage and power outages, some people had power out for over a week. I wondered today if the damage done to the trees earlier in the year had an affect on how they responded to the storm this weekend because there seemed to be much more damage to them this time.

I have a very old tree in my front yard, it is going to have to be cut down now because there are only two small branches left in it - the rest are all in the yard and on the porch. I have tree branches on the power lines that will need to be cut out. The front walk is covered with heavy branches that will need to be moved before clients start coming tomorrow. I did manage to get my 50' handicap ramp cleaned off today since I will need it tomorrow.

The winter weather really can play havock on the massage business because people don't get out as often, massage isn't always considered important enough to get out when the weather is bad and actually I encourage people to not get out on bad roads but if they insist - well I am already at work so the only problem I have is making sure they can get into the house safely.

I sit here and really appreciate the fact that my electric is back on so that I am warm and safe. I do hope everyone else is too.

Saturday already

I can't believe I haven't posted since Saturday. It's not because I have been swamped with massages or quilting (although I do have 5 last minute Christmas quilts to do for a customer) or anything I just have a hard time remembering to do it.

I guess it is like any habit, just takes a little time to get in the routine of it. I will try to post more often.

I used to work on Saturdays, the only day I would always take off was Sunday, figured I needed one day off each week. Now I feel I work late enough in the day that most anyone can get in if they try so I take Saturday and Sunday off.

The longer I am in business the more changes I have made. When I first started out I took anyone who walked in the door, now I don't take walk ins, haven't for several years. I feel out of sorts when someone just walks in and I am not prepared - mentally and energetically for them so they probably don't get the best from me at that time. I also hate to encourage them to not plan ahead. I decided along the way that I wanted to target a certain percentage of the population.

My target market is, people who value my services, who can afford frequent massages, wants to get them often and wants to send all their friends and work aquaintences. Someone who plans in advance and books the next massage as soon as they get done with their massage.

OK, so reality sets in, that is my target market, obviously I can't have everything that I want but I do have a good client base of this kind of clients - I love them. Then I have the ones who only call when they are in pain - you know the kind. Them " I am hurting and need in right now" Me - "I am sorry but I am booked today, how about I get you in tomorrow or the day after?" Them -" I don't care if you are booked why can't you get me in now?" Me thinking but not saying - "your lack of planning does not make an emergency for me" Me actually talking - "how long have you been in pain?" Them - "about 3 weeks now and I just can't take it anymore. I guess I will call around and find someone else then" Me thinking - "good luck since it is 4:00 pm and you insist on getting in today, even if you did find someone who can take you at such short notice during the typically busiest part of the day - are they really any good and can they help you."

Then they call you back the next week at the last minute and say " I tried getting in last week and you didn't have time for me, I never did get a massage and I am still hurting can you get me in today?" Sheesh!!!!

OK enough of my rantings, I do hope you have a good weekend, it is supposed to be nasty weather all weekend here in MO.

Massage for the therapist

I am going for a massage for myself this morning - yayy. It has been way too long since I took the time for a massage, I try to get one every 3 or 4 weeks but it has been at least 3 months since my last one. So I am getting an hour and half massage today, she has plenty to work on for sure.

I also will be leaving two guys in my backyard putting in new sewer lines for me. It is a good thing I haven't tried to landscape much of the backyard yet - the only thing that I have done in the area that they are working on - I planted a bush last summer - yup they had to move it to dig the trench.

But at least I won't have to worry about the sewer line anymore, this house is over 100 years old and the sewer line was the original one that was put in and it is in real bad shape.

This is a good day for them to be here since I only had two massage clients scheduled today, and they are later in the day so it won't be a problem.

Well time for the therapist to go take care of herself, have a great day - I know I will.

Sleeping late

I promised myself all week that I could sleep late on Saturday. I am not a morning person, the alarm goes off at 7:00 am all week and then in the winter I have to wait for the bathroom to warm up (I have an old Victorian home and it is rather cold) then start my day. Today I didn't get up till 10:00 am and it was great. It is hard to get much done when you feel so lazy but I figure I deserve it once in awhile.

I don't have any big plans for the weekend, just working on a couple of quilts and putting up some more Christmas decorations. I still need to do some deep cleaning before Christmas since I am having company. And laundry - I am so tired of doing laundry but am really glad I have a washer and dryer, can't imagine doing it by hand and hanging it out on the line. Although I did like the smell of sheets after hanging on the line on a sunny day. My business generates anywhere from 1 to 3 loads of laundry a day. This may seem like a small inconvenience - but my laundry room is in the basement, massage room is on the main floor and I sometimes hate to run up and down the stairs to do laundry.

I really am very fortunate, I work for myself doing jobs that I truly love and am passionate about, I have a wonderful home and things are really going well. The kids are all healthy, grandkids are too and they are a joy to me. I have wonderful friends who love and support me. I am a very fortunate woman.

The other job

I started offering custom long arm quilting this year and want to share one of the latest quilts that I quilted for a customer.

I finished this one yesterday and delivered it, she loved it. It is a full size and has varied purple colored stars all over it, and I put the feather meander around them in the white background.

Massage is my profession and quilting is my passion - my artistic expression. I love them both.

New week after the holidays

The Thanksgiving holiday weekend is over, most people had 4 days off and hate to go back to work. I took most of the 4 days off - did 2 massages on Friday, but I worked on customer quilts most of the weekend so really didn't have the days off - just different work.

My son Nathan and his two young brother in laws (13 & 15 years old) came over and helped decorate for Christmas. Nathan puts up my 7' tree and puts the lights on it, I like a lot of lights and I know he will be glad if and when I decided to purchase a pre-lit tree. Then they decorated it, mostly I wanted to boys to come over to carry boxes up and down the stairs. I think there is actually some boxes of Christmas decorations still in the attic but I don't think I need them.

I have a fairly full day today, 4 new clients (most are gift certificates) and a couple of regulars so it will be a good day. I find only a very small percentage of gift certificate recipients actually make massage a regular part of their health care routine. For whatever reason it just seems to work that way.

Working on no sleep

I offered to keep my grandson Gavin who is 20 months old and has only spent one other night away from Mommy and Daddy before. The kids wanted to go shopping early this morning and Gavin has been sick so they didn't want to take him out.

Since he has been sick he didn't sleep well and fussed and cried all night, and since I am a very light sleeper I didn't get any sleep at all. I then had 4 full hour massages scheduled today - so then the problem was - how do I do 4 hours of massage on no sleep?

I don't, simple enough. I cancelled my last one and one didn't show up and I did the other two then took a nice long nap. It is a good thing I have two days off to get rested up before starting again.

Happy Thanksgiving

I am sitting here watching the Macy's Day parade. I am sure hoping it is warmer there than it is here in Carthage, it is 11:24 am and the temp. is 31 and my feet are cold.

I was at Pizza Hut last evening eating my free meal - they lost my order so I got it all free, when my son called and asked if they could borrow my vehicle? They had more people staying at their house and going to His inlaws house for Thanksgiving dinner than would fit in their car. So I am stuck at home but that is ok because I think it is too cold to be out running around anyway and I want to get started on a couple of quilts that I have to do for clients.

I am not only a massage therapist, I also am a professional quilter and do quilting for others. The quilts I have right now to work on have to be done for Christmas presents.

Well thats all for today, need to wrap my feet up or get up and work on the quilt one.

Happy Thanksgiving from Healing Touch Massage

I struggle to take time for the holidays

I have always found it hard - being self employed and massage being the only income - to take time off for the holidays. On the one hand the money is needed and my clients are off for the holidays so it is a good time for them to come in. On the other hand I really need time off occasionally, but on the holidays that I don't have family coming over or me going somewhere I guess it doesn't matter if I take off.

Then that brings up the whole issue - you aren't having the family over for " " holiday - big meal and all. Awwww - maybe we should invite you over - or - lucky you, relaxing all day with no dinner to fix - except I have to play catch up on the laundry from doing all those massages the day before so I could take off. lol

I can't complain, business is fairly good and I do enjoy my days off, and do manage to take holidays off most of the time. I actually am planning on taking about 5 days off for Christmas since my Daughter and her family will be here from CA. I will have a house full and will probably be glad to get back to work just so I can rest a little. ;)

I love all my clients and am very thankful for their continued support of me and my business and I try to make myself available for them - within reason of coarse, and will continue to work the day before and after most holidays so that they can get their massages when they are off work - and bring in their family members while they are in town visiting.