1/12/2024

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I stayed up way too late last night. Not quite late enough to see the sun come up, but almost. Believe it or not, it’s much easier for me to wake up now than when I was young; in college I’d easily sleep ten hours on school nights and fourteen on weekends. These days it just takes a few hours of sleep and a cup of strong coffee to get me up and at ’em. Still, I’m not the active firecracker I used to be—just crouching down to lace up my boots makes me want to crawl back into bed. When I finally make it out the door, I’m running only a few minutes late.

  When I pull into my parking spot, I breathe a sigh of relief when I see there isn’t a crowd waiting along the street. Of course that’s yet to be the case in the five years I’ve owned the place, so I’m not sure why I worry. I unlock the door and flip on the lights. The fluorescents flicker on panel by panel, all the way to the back of the store.

Maybe it’s just because I have an affinity for do-it-yourself projects, but there’s no smell in the world like an arts and craft store. The combined scents of unvarnished wood, clay, glue, silk flowers, and, of course, potpourri make me feel like I can conquer any project, even though my do-it-yourself attempts usually end up cluttering my workshop—or as I prefer to call it, my laboratory. I giggle as I compare myself to a mad scientist, gluing sequins onto flip-flops, tie-dying cotton pillowcases, and creating tiny plastic terrariums. It’s a pretty accurate picture.

  Around 10:30 a.m. a man opens the door and pauses, looking like he just stepped out of a space shuttle and onto another planet. Doing my best to seem as little like a craft-obsessed maniac as possible, I smile and ask if he’s looking for anything specific.

  “Do you have any, um, alpaca?” he asks, but the way he pronounces the word makes it clear it was the first time he ever said it. I conclude that he was definitely sent here by someone far more knowledgeable about yarn, and whoever sent him agrees with me that alpaca is the best kind. I instantly warm to his mission.

  “Sure do,” I respond. “Do you have a color preference?”

****From Mastery Prep Mastery Curriculum Locate Lesson 1

Multiple Choice

According to the passage, which of the following craft materials does the man need from the narrator’s store?

• Flowers

• Sequins

• Yarn

• Pillowcases

Multiple Choice

The narrator states that although it has not yet happened, she worries:

• her shop will be robbed.

• people will be lined up, waiting for her to open.

• people will leave her negative feedback online.

• her shop will be vandalized.

Multiple Choice

According to the passage, compared to her younger years, the narrator's need for sleep is:

• much greater now than before.

• much less now than before.

• about the same as before.

• a bit less now than before.