We just received some beautiful prints and a book in the mail from Scott Malin. Thanks Scott! Scott is also a musician, you can check him out playing bass with Great Aunt Ida and The Secret Three, two great Canadian bands.

This is our temporary sign for the store. Eventually we'll make a much bigger one. We bought the wooden letters at a craft store. When Tyler first put it together the "Z" was missing so he made one out of styrofoam. The first time he put it up some of the letters quickly blew off . Somehow he managed to find them in the snow, in the dark. When he took it down to repair it the remaining letters fell off...except for the foam Z! Now he has the letters attached by both nails and glue. It's windy out here.

This new t-shirt design (available in our shop) references a sign in Bruno. The sign was one of the first things I noticed when we arrived here last May.

I would have posted this information sooner but I've been sick with some sort of crazy stomach flu. We've been approved! Finally! In the end all we had to do was hang a curtain separating our washroom from the rest of our house. A curtain! The floor plan says it was stamped on January 5th but we didn't get it until a few days ago. In the same envelope was my FoodSafe certificate for a course I took on the 17th. It says that it’s been approved "subject to letter". The letter states, "the four seats noted for waiting are not to be used for seating unless a public washroom is provided". Whatever! The next step is the actual inspection. Tyler wants to refinish the floors first; hopefully he can get it done quickly.

Rupert and I had a stare down the other day.

We're still waiting to hear from the Saskatoon Health Region. In the meantime I've taken a part time job in Bruno helping cast railway model kits out of resin for the good folks at Pacific Mountain Scale Shops. I have never worked with resin before. I steered clear of the sculpture department at Emily Carr when I was in school. This will be an interesting learning experience (hopefully I can keep up). Check out the cute little port-a-potties in the top photo!

I received a surprise package for the shop yesterday that contained several copies of the CD Let the Record Show by Ghostrain (Luke Gustafson). I had never heard of Ghostrain before but Tyler and I gave it a listen and we really liked it! The CD is very nicely packaged in a silkscreened gatefold. Our favorite track was "Heart Ache: 4 Miles". Thanks Luke!

Rupert is back! He survived. I haven't been able to get a photo of him because all of our windows are now either covered in frost or blocked by large snowdrifts. He clearly has a warm place to sleep somewhere because he definitely wasn't in the shelter we built him during the blizzard. Tyler revamped the entryway so that it curves right around the corner of our house in hopes of keeping snow from blowing inside. Yesterday when Tyler left for work at 5:30am he noticed Rupert came out of his shelter (with Tyler was at a safe distance) and drowsily began stretching. He still won't come inside our house even though it's -30. He's a mysterious creature.

Some more blizzard footage (this time of our backyard). Tyler made a futile attempt at shoveling snow. His aim was to make a path so that Rupert could get to his shelter if he needed to. Rupert was nowhere in sight and within hours the path Tyler cleared was completely covered.

Here's some video footage I took of the blizzard. I shot it out of our storefront door which looks onto Main Street, Bruno.

We experienced a completely insane blizzard today. The photos don't do it justice. I must say I'm terribly worried about Rupert. I tried to coax him in the other day but he refused to come closer than 10 feet of me. As soon as I closed the door he ran up to eat the food I left and then he was off again.

I recently purchased this wooden mailbox from local craftsman Alois Helgert. It's another item we will hopefully be selling in the shop, when we open...

This is the final floor plan we sent to the supervisor of "safe communities" at the Saskatoon Health Region. She's the one stopping us from opening. We need her to stamp it and officially reject it on paper before we take further action.

Our espresso equipment arrived. Normally I would be ecstatic but now it's an event tinged with sadness. I think I'll go over there right now and make myself a sad little latté.

The holidays are over and it's back to business! We recently received a couple of very generous packages from Vancouver full of items for the shop. Jason McLean, artist extraordinaire, sent several of his own books as well as generously gathering together books by other Vancouver artists such as Mark Delong, Mark Connery, Owen Plummer, Aaron Rosner, J. Kennedy & Jonathan Petersen, The Lions, Andrew Dick, S.P. Ehman, Jaret Penner and many others. We also received an animation on DVD by Barry Doupe and music by Nil Bells and Tim Olive & Fritz Welch. We've been told there's more on the way. Wow. Thanks Jason.

As far as the bathroom fiasco...we have a plan. Stay tuned!

I really don't mean to harp on this subject but I need to explain the fact that the health inspectors who are keeping us from opening are making a judgment call rather than abiding by any clear set regulations. The first health inspector I spoke to (let's call her "AJ") initially told me we would not need to build a washroom in the store. We went ahead and ordered espresso equipment. She later tells me that what she meant by you don't need a washroom is that we don't need a customer washroom since we will only be selling take-out, but, we do need to build a STAFF washroom. I tell AJ we already have a washroom conveniently located directly adjacent to the store in the very same building. She says that it is her supervisor making these demands, gives me a completely unrealistic scenario about us selling our business separate from our living quarters, and suggests talking to the town office. I do everything I'm told, none of it matters. I ask to speak to her supervisor (let's call her "Nina"). Nina and I have a very unpleasant conversation. She takes the "rules are rules" tone and basically says it was my responsibility to read the handbooks sent to me in the mail. But I did read them. Most of the rules are in regards to CUSTOMER washrooms, which we are still being told we don't need. This is all that it has to say about STAFF washrooms "public eating establishments are required to provide conveniently located washroom facilities for employees." Our washroom is very conveniently located. The only information given specifically in regards to a take-out facility is listed under "Washroom Requirements in Malls" where it says you must provide "any washroom, public or staff, located anywhere in the mall". So a mall can have a staff washroom ANYWHERE in the building but we are not allowed to have our staff washroom (for the staff of us, well, mostly me) located in the same building two steps from our work environment. Nina said that her primary issue is that in two years she imagines we'll have hired 5 or 6 staff and that we won't want them "traipsing through our home”. For one thing, this is rural Saskatchewan, we'll be extremely lucky if our business does well enough to allow Tyler to stay and work at home rather than have to drive to Saskatoon for supplemental income. Secondly, there will be no "traipsing” through our home since the washroom is two steps away from the back door of the shop. Thirdly, if the issue ever arose, which it won't, I would gladly allow any staff to use our home washroom - this is Bruno - I would let customers use our home washroom if they needed to. Fourthly and finally, I would very happily promise to inform the health inspector if I did hire staff and then we could revisit this whole matter! My conversation with Nina went nowhere. It ended with me hanging up the phone in tears. It is a documented fact that people are leaving rural Saskatchewan in record numbers. I now understand why our shop had been sitting empty for years. I totally recognize the need for health codes but this particular issue affects no-one's health in any way, except for my mental health that is.

Once again I've been saved by Bernadette the cowboy poet. When I met her last she asked a favour of me: she needed some metal rings for the decorative tatting she does. She asked that Tyler and I keep an eye out for them when we were next in the city. Tyler stopped by a craft store in Saskatoon and sure enough they were there so he bought some and today I gave her a call. I was in the depths of despair when she stopped by to pick them up. She came bearing a large bag of garden carrots! She then asked if I'd like to join her for coffee so we went next door to the café where we met up with two of her friends. These women are close in age to my grandmother , I was quite touched to be so warmly welcomed by them. Bernadette recited some of her poetry and had us all in stitches. Bruno is definitely a jewel of a town.

Folks, I fear that I am soon going to lose my mind completely. I finally received the official letter from the town office. It reads:

"This letter is to inform you that the property you purchased at 517
Main Street, (Lot 9, Block 04, Plan G4013) is 25' x 132'. Therefore it
can never be subdivided. This can only be sold as a whole property as
per resolution #424/06 passed at the December 18th council meeting.

This property is zoned as commercial so we do not have any problem
with you opening The All Citizens Shop. We wish you luck in your
future endeavors."

Nice letter right?

Yes but before I had a chance to forward it to the health inspector I received an email from her stating that it doesn't matter what the town says. We are going to be forced to build a new washroom due to building codes. Building codes? But the BUILDING has a washroom! It's right next door to the only spot where a new washroom would go if we had scads of money to blow, which we don't. We have negative money. We have bills and loans and I have no job since the job I am trying very hard to create for myself is being blocked at every turn. We have an espresso machine on the way, one that we are now not allowed to use! The only reason we ordered said espresso machine is because when I first called the health inspector and asked if we would need a washroom in the store she said NO. I was clearly told that as long as we have only one table for customer seating we need no customer washroom. Now I’m being told that when I go to work in the front room of my home I am not allowed to use the washroom directly adjacent to my work space, instead I have to build a whole second washroom right next door! I apologize if I am repeating myself; my mind is fragile. I am going to lie down now and weep.

Pictured above is the floor plan for our shop (you can click to enlarge it). We had to send it to a health inspector for approval. It was not approved. But why? First off, we've now been informed that we need three sinks instead of two. Secondly, and this is where my blood really begins to boil, we are now being told we need a staff washroom in the store (we don't need a customer washroom because we'll only be serving coffee to go and will have limited seating). The floor plan on the previous page shows where our current washroom is located. It’s a foot away (if that) from the only place where we could build one (the sink room). Building a new washroom is not something we can afford to do, not to mention the fact that if we did build one there I'm sure the health inspector would then make us move our double sink since I can't imagine them allowing us to wash our coffee equipment in the same room as our toilet. I’ve been told that the problem lies in the fact that we might one day sell our business separate from our home and that without a washroom it can't function as a business. First off, why not let whoever is crazy enough to buy it worry about that (as long as they're informed). Secondly forget the first thought since I can't imagine how the two could ever function separately. The store is essentially the front room of our home, which happens to be on Main Street. There is possibly one tiny loophole. I was told that if I can get the town office to back up my claims of business and home being inseparable then MAYBE we would be allowed to use our existing washroom. I went to the office and told the nice lady working there the scenario. She was very understanding and said she would bring it up at the town meeting tonight and ask that a motion be passed stating that 517 Main Street can only be sold as one unit and not as a separate business and home. An official letter will then be drafted. What planet am I on? I feel like I'm a character in a zany sitcom - one of those shows you roll your eyes at because they're so outlandish and unrealistic.

Just to clarify, due to unforeseen circumstances involving a broken espresso machine and a sink, the shop is not yet open. The craft sale was a one day event I organized because we couldn't actually open but I wanted to somehow take advantage of the Christmas season. It was also a way to introduce myself to local crafters. In that regard it was a success! The espresso machine pictured above is on order and our opening is now slated for the beginning of January. I must admit I'm incredibly disappointed that we weren't able to open in December but we are new at this and everything has taken twice as long as we thought it would!