What's New!!

We have had so much going on and so much happening...it's all been great. I'm so excited about what all GOD has done! Where do I start? Mmmm...let me see. This is the beginning of my tree. A few days ago we went into the woods and cut down some pretty sticks. Well, they were actually large limbs from huge trees behind our house. Sis. Bridget, being the wonderful friend that she is to me, came to help me build my tree. I'm not sure she knew what she was getting herself into. Hee-hee-hee!! (And I didn't know quite how big my tree would turn out.) After we cut these branches, got a bucket, the special foam, and another nice container to put the whole thing in, we put the branches in the bucket. I got the spray foam...it expands at least twice its original size and then hardens. Well, Savannah took over my holding position and Sis Bridget stood there with her...for 45 minutes. We waited and waited and waited for that stuff to harden. Small oversight...it only gets 'TACKY' after that long. Not hardened completely. Ha! We ended up leaning it against the wall for the rest of the day and night and then went on to something else. This is one of my favorite pictures...Doesn't the flag look great? The kids are being very patriotic. Isn't this so sweet? He was so proud to get to use a real power tool. He worked and worked to sand this piece of equipment just right, for his Daddy. I love it! The pic doesn't show it, but it is shaking him terribly and he is holding on tight. It's so cute. He's really a very hard worker and likes to help. Here's the progress of the tree. By the next morning the foam had hardened completely and also overflowed onto the carpet about 2 gallons worth. Oh my!!! Geez, what a mess that was. We cleaned up the sticky stuff and got it up off the floor. I think the kids played football with one of the globs!! Ha ha! After I drilled about 45-50 holes in the branches, my arm was sore. Camille decided to finish the drilling. Thank goodness. Thanks Camille. She had it done in no time at all. Then we started to glue the ficus limbs into the holes. We needed to make one last sweep through the kitchen. Well, I think it's the last sweep. We will probably go over it all right before we open this week. Savannah, Camille and Garrett were taking care of that job. Every cooler, the deep freeze, huge stove and oven, all the stainless steel shelves/racks, and the sandwich prep station was disinfected and sanitized. We are using Cintas for all our supplies like that. They have installed tp, hand towels, disinfectants and sanitizers along with a few other things I can't remember. My husband's got it under control. He's doing a great job!! Anyway, the kids did all that stuff. It smelled better than before, when I thought it smelled better than that...that sounded funny. Isn't this a lovely clock!! This is kindof the look of the deli. Kindof nostalgic. Historical. Old reminisce-ish. If that makes sense. Not the usual, maybe out of the ordinary-ish. Warm and welcoming. I hope that is the feel of it anyway. When you come by, you can let me know if we were successful at attempting. I give God the glory for this whole venture. He is the reason we are even able to accomplish anything...isn't he!! He's a great and wonderful God! We are not done with the decor of the place as of yet. this is the only real decoration we have up on the walls...ha!! Like I said in an earlier post, "Decor is not high on the priority list." I am working on getting wall decor up and it is taking a while. I have met with the Arab Historical Society and got many pics to be copied and I am meeting again in the morning with the Hist. Soc. president and she has given me permission to copy anything I would like to. She said I could take any of their photos at the museum and have them copied. They have been so helpful. Actually, I have enjoyed meeting with these ladies. I know God has given me such favor with them. Ok, my husband wanted to publish this picture of my tree. We ended up drilling about 125 holes in those branches!! After the holes were drilled though, it only took about 1 1/2 hours to finish. I was tired and wanted to take a nap. Not a picture moment for me, but Grant wanted to take it anyway. I have a few more pics from the last few days and will post them soon. I'm tired for now.

Look For Our Sign!!

With the help of some friends we were able to get the new signs up and they look great!! WOW!! With Bro Jody and Bro John and Bro Jordan it didn't take long at all. Here is a gallery of what we did tonight... Thanks guys for all of your help!

window treatments, menu planning, bathroom flooring, local newspaper and awesome cabinets!!!

Since yesterday we have had so much going on! Grant and Savannah have put together a great lineup of "what's for dinner??" It may not sound like a tough thing to accomplish, but when you have to decide on each item and what goes into it or on it, that does take time. And lots of it. We have actually been working on the menu items for the entire time now. We may like something and it might sound good, but after we look at what goes into it, we have to decide whether or not it's a keeper or to just drop it. If it has too many ingredients that are hard to get, we have to let it go. We need items that will be easy to make and that are relatively easy to obtain. So we are in the final stages of making the menu. I can tell you this though...we're going to have BIG sandwiches and fresh salads, including chicken salad on a lovely, fresh bed of lettuce (or on a fluffy, buttery croissant, with no trans fat, of course) and thick, hearty soups...homemade. Mmmmm...yummie!! Last night, Ripley's father Tommy Fowler, came and helped us at the store, yet another time. He's really a talented guy! He came and laid some wood-look flooring down into the bathrooms. The flooring in there was just awful. Old and beaten up terribly. He pulled every bit of that stuff up and then put down some new kind of floating floor. WOW! Does it ever look different. He is a very giving person and his wife, Sueann has been so gracious to help us out. What a blessing they have been and we are so glad to get to know them better with this venture. Thanks Tommy and Sueann!! We love you guys!! You know, when your funds are limited and you don't really want to spend much on "decor", it makes sense to try to be as creative as possible. Well, that's exactly what we've done. I am trying to use as many different things as I can. Window treatments can be very costly and when you are opening up a restaurant, you know that $$$ do not need to go into alot of elaborate decorations. Sooooo, I've taken the left over parts of what we've used in other areas of the store and made use of it. These little panels will keep the light at bay during the afternoon and also add a special touch to the indoor decor. Yea!!! I hope you all like it. If you don't just keep it to yourself..lol...jk!! It kinda goes with the fencing wall we made and I may even use it to decoupage some ole time photos onto later. Today, I went to the local newspaper, The Arab Tribune. They were so helpful as I shared with them our story of what we're doing. They allowed me to look through all the 'archive' books that I wanted and said to take all the time I needed to look. They were great. I am looking for old photos of our town. I want to dress the restaurant up in a way that brings out the history of the town. I'm so excited!! I can't wait to share it with you!! It's going to take a bit of time to gather all the pics and info, but they are so helpful at the Tribune, it should move along quickly. More on that soon. This is the best part!! Bro Bo Alexander has made the most beautiful cabinet and countertops for our store! He brought them last week without the countertops and when I walked in, I just about cried. They were made so well and with such skill. It was amazing to look at his work. I know it must have taken him a very long time to do. You have got to come by just to see them. I love them!! He brought the countertops today and they are just gorgeous. I can't believe it. They are so pretty and go exactly with the decor of the store. If we ever move to another location, I'm taking them with me and using them there!!

Walls are done, ice machine installed and now, the drink machines...

The walls are finally up! We got them done a few nights ago. Grant and Byram have been working on finishing up some of the details. It seems the little things take the longest and can often make the biggest impact. The ice machine is in place and yesterday we worked on getting the drink machines installed and completing the ceiling tile repair. Getting the drinks in is a very big thing. Grant called and said, "Bring your camera, we're installing the machines!" So we rushed down to the store and watched as the technician crawled into the tiny attic hole and up through the ceiling. We didn't want the piping for the coke fountains to show, so we needed to run the hoses through the walls and through the ceiling. That was a job! To say the least. But Rodney, the technician, was skilled at his job and helped us set it up so the hardward would not be seen. Grant even installed some electrical outlets on the wall behind the machines, so we could have electric access. WOW! I'm so proud of my husband. He can do anything! And with his faith God is doing great things through him. Mr. Rodney needed a little help with the cords and hoses. He asked if Austin would come and hold onto the big black piping so they could lift the machine into place. Of course, Austin didn't hesitate. He loves to help and get involved. And he was small enough to fit under the counter and into the cabinet. See his face peeking through the guys. Now we have a brand new soda machine, brand new tea and coffee urns and a lemonade pitcher. More coming soon. We've got to go right now and see how the progress is coming along.

Building Some Walls

The room was completely open and basically just one, big space. The only division was the kitchen wall and hallway. We really needed to divide up the room and add some walls. So the first wall we added was at the front entrance. It's just a little divider and the guest table and chairs will sit on the other side, in front of the window. Painted to match the trim and roughed up to look worn-hopefully. The next wall we built was for behind the register and counter area. This is the frame/backing for the wall itself. We're placing fabric of various colors on it. How cool!! The biggest wall we built divided the left side of the room from the right side. The guest tables will sit on the left side of this wall. It's painted to match the trim and then roughed up a bit.

Continued...

cleaning the kitchen...top to bottom...even the walls were scoured. every piece of equipment was thoroughly gone over and disinfected two times. mmmm...it smells so much better now. re-covering all the chair cushions took several days. we had to choose just the right fabric to hold up to many guests and something that would clean easily too. wow! they look and feel great! the color is a burnt red. i love it! after hours of preparing the floor on our hands and knees, we were able to lay carpet. it wasn't just any carpet either...it was just the right color. GOD did that for us in a wonderful way! notice the walls now...they aren't brite white any more~~yaaaaeeee!!! you didn't really notice the sign/frame housing out front, but now you can see it from the overpass @ hwy 69!!! it's bright yellow and the sign we're placing in it going to be gorgeous. look closely at Jordan's shades. did your glasses fall into the paint?

The work in progress

With stark white walls, 3 different types of flooring (2 colors of pink tile and then an aged terra cotta tile-HA! I'm making that sound kinda good...aged, that's being tactful :). ), a ceiling that's slightly falling, teal colored chair cushions just to name a few, we really had our work cut out for us. Not to mention the counter tops and cabinets were some kind of green and dark brown. This was the start of the store and actually these pics make it look pretty good...compared to what we walked into. lol-really. Sometimes if we just look past the surface we can see the potential. I guess we must like a challenge. God brings people, things and situations into our lives to show us there can be potential in anything, anyone, anytime...just like he sees in us. I know it may sound melancholy, but I don't mind. It's still true!! And we've had some great days together while we've worked on this place. Together...isn't that something! I love that. Now, here are 5 of our most industrious laborers...LOL!! I'm not sure they could see the potential~are you? Hee Hee!!