Friday~

Be the type of woman that when your feet hit the floor

each morning the devil says "oh crap, she's up"...

The day started out on the foggy side.  It is supposed to get nice and 

sunny as the morning progresses.  Will stay warm and no rain in the forecast until later

 in the evening.  Not a bad day at all.  Once again the week had gone by way too fast.

Have an early start of the day.  Many errands to do before

 I actually get to work.  Getting the hang of this running around

 and doing many things at a time.  Might even say I like it.

The pool at Almost Home was given the go ahead from the 

Health Department. Yesterday it was officially opened.  Still chilly, but it did 

not stop a few of the tenants to dip their feet and test it out.  With the sun 

the next few days we will be ready to jump in on Memorial Day.

Looking forward to another peaceful, quiet and relaxing day at Almost Home,

 and 76 INN.  Friday.  It's also ice-cream day here at Almost Home.

Wishing everyone a good day and to many this is the start of a 3 day weekend.

Live it up.  Be merry and always remember to be grateful.  Happy Friday everyone.

Train your mind to see the good in every situation...

~Nadiya~

So Ready For The Weekend ~

Busy is a choice, stress is a choice, joy is a choice.  Choose well.

Better days are coming they are called Saturday and Sunday....

So ready for the weekend to be here.  The work week goes by FAST.  The weekend

 even faster.  Our weekends now consist of just Sundays off.  Saturday we 

both go to "work"  My day is a bit shorter than Arvid's.  Then I come home

 and the work begins all over again.  Staying busy like we wanted to.

This has been a pretty exhausting week.  Especially for Arvid. I look
 at him and I can see how tired he is.  He just never knows when to stop.

By the end of yesterday the skies got dark and the bad weather 

once again took a turn for "not good."  Thunder, lightning, followed by 

hail and tornado winds made for more unpleasant times/evening.  

Sniff got nervous and of course now does now want to eat.  Takes him a 

few days to get over this.  Poor boy has had many frightening moments 

here in Missouri.  Brutus.. not sure how he would have handled it. 

 For sure, we would have petted him more and made sure he was 

not so scared.  Sniff is much braver and independent.  Shadow

 never had the opportunity of knowing what bad weather was all about.

 I'm sure Shadow would have faced everything with pure fierceness 

and determination.  He in his short time with us was FEARLESS!!!

Friday.  Has not started out so great, but if all goes according to the weather

 man then it should just get better and better.  To all a good day and

 a happy start of the weekend.  Umbrella drink is calling...

May your weekend be full of adventure and cheer,

 and may the start of the next week be long away from here..

~Nadiya~

Feeling Accomplished ~

We don't grow when things are easy.
We grow when we face challenges...

As mentioned before, when Arvid and I took over the 2 hotels we had no clue

 about running one.  Today I want to say that we are so much better at it, but even so

 there is always much more we can learn and we are.  Everyday it is something new.
Most of our tenants are now more than that.  We have bonded and we have a good
 thing going with everyone.  I want to believe that we are making a difference.

 Something unexpected happens everyday.  As I just finished telling my mom and

 sisters the latest, we just could not help but laugh at the craziness that our lives 

have become.  A craziness we absolutely LOVE!  Everyday my mom tells me 

to start writing a book because no one would believe what we go through.

Arvid's hotel, 76 INN was not up an running when we took it over.  It was

 what I would call a mess.  Did that scare us?  Well obviously not enough.  

My hotel as I call it, was well run and just about 80-90% occupied.

Arvid's was more like 39%  and at times it dipped lower.  Arvid has become an 

expert at kicking people out.  He shows up to their rooms and says, "pack your bags.  

You have 15 minutes to get out."  Let me tell you when Arvid says that the people

 jump.  At times takes them a little longer than 15 minutes, but with  Arvid standing

 waiting there they have no other option than to pack as fast as they can and to get out

.  Arvid has perfected this kicking out.  One has to be firm and stand their ground.
We only want what's best for the hotel and all living there.  One has to be selective.

From an occupancy rate of 39%, Arvid and his property manager/maintenance 

man have worked long, long hours to what is today a hotel at 100% occupancy rate. 

 Has not been easy but determined is what we are.  Having two hotels we are 

able to direct people from one to the other when one is full.  

Arvid has the ability to have double rooms in his. I don't so when I have such 

customer, I send them to him, and if I have no pet room I send to him and vice versa.  

As of yesterday both hotels are at 100% occupancy.  Yes we are proud of this

 accomplishment.  We do not have much time for many things, but when we

 started this business our goal was to get to this stage.  Now the fun begins.

It's not the easiest of businesses.  As I mentioned. you never know what to expect on 

a daily basis.  You never know when an emergency will show up.  You never know

 how people will be and you never know when you will need to kick someone out.  

What I do know is that Arvid is always ready to do it.  I think he enjoys it.  We

 love what we do.  It keeps us busier than we have ever been  My mind is always 

occupied.  My Brutus and Shadow live tucked in my heart and our Sniff is always 

home waiting for us.  Life is good.  We may not have everything we want, but we

 do have what we need, and yes not a day goes by that I don't think of our Brutus.

  He is my baby and he stole my heart.  Sniff sure has a big chunk of  it also.

To all a good day.  Not sure what the day holds.  Maybe more tornadoes.
Seems like tornadoes are a daily occurrence here in Missouri.
Arvid and I are ready. Always something new.  We love it!

I know what we did and how we accomplished it.
We are proud of it and know that it was done with integrity...

~Nadiya~

Baby It's COLD Outside...

If you want to see the sunshine you have to weather the storm...

If you look at the temperatures during the week it appears that it will definitely 

be "warm."  Those numbers are deceiving because yesterday was cold as

 hell, and with the wind blowing the way it was it's lucky people were not

 flying all over the place.  Yes, it was and still will be extremely windy.  

That makes for COLD days, and if you're out walking around, makes for

 freezing temperatures.  For us a lot more because we after all are not

 used to this so called winter so much, but getting there.

Sniff was bundled up under the covers with me as we watched TV last night.

Both Arvid and I had to warm up with a late night cup of tea.  Waking up to 28 degrees 

Fahrenheit or for Arvid's mom benefit it is now -2 degrees Celsius.  I am cold!!

All is good here in Branson, except for the cold right now.  Staying busy helps to keep 

mind mind from wandering too often to Brutus and Shadow, but no matter how 

busy I am there is always something that reminds me of them.  I miss our Brutus 

very much.  The other day Arvid saw a kitty that looked exactly like Shadow.  

He came home and when he told me we both hugged each other.  March 5th

 will be one year since our Shadow died.  One year and 4 months 

since our Brutus, my baby died.  Today my heart has sadness in it.

Good morning all.  Hope you have some warmer days ahead.

Wherever you go, whatever the weather, always bring your own sunshine...

~Nadiya~