3:45 a.m.: Awake! No way in hell can I be up this early ... finally slip off to sleep again.

6:45 a.m.: Awake – no alarm. Pull open the curtains to face the dark sky and head upstairs to an already-awake assortment of animals wanting to be fed.

7 a.m.: Pouring first cup of strong coffee after a long bout of dog kisses on the kitchen floor.

7:15 a.m.: Turn on CNBC – futures are up; should be a great day for someone. Sit and daydream for 10 minutes until fully functioning.

7:25 a.m.: Log onto Party Galaxy computers to see how sales from previous day are, and start creating daily emails to all employees on the importance of great customer service. Continue on to Facebook and eBay for several minutes.

7:45 a.m.: Check iPhone for daily appointments and meetings. This usually dictates whether I should bother shaving.

7:55 a.m.: Shower and daydream and stare at the goldfish outside for several more minutes, then realize I need to speed it up.

8:15 a.m.: Throw out the dogs and cats, grab a banana and leave the house.

8:29 a.m.: Arrive at a newly formed Uptown 23rd district meeting at Cheevers – great group of people.

9:32 a.m.: More coffee.

9:41 a.m.: Starbucks on Western: The air is sick and reeks of man cologne. I grab a half-caf and split.

9:46 a.m.: Belle Isle Party Galaxy store: General walk through looking for ideas to share and issues to resolve. Looks great so far; all ready for Valentines and Mardi Gras. I hit several stores until noon, then met my brother, Mike, at Lido for lunch before heading to the office.

1:33 p.m.: Back at the desk working with Mike, who’s also my business partner, on a new Halloween and costume lineup for 2012: which costumes to drop and add, which is a huge undertaking with more than 800 costumes – times three sizes, times 13 stores.

2:45 p.m.: Make a life-changing decision to remove the plus-size Wilma Flintstone from our line. Plus-size Fred will go it alone in 2012. They should change the national drug-war slogan to “Yabba Dabba, don’t do drugs!”

3:16 p.m.: Midday trip for more caffeine – it gets a little ridiculous.

3:38 p.m.: Making reservations for another Halloween show in Houston; we already have been to Las Vegas and Phoenix in two weeks.

4:15 p.m.: Walk the MacArthur store floor; say “hello” to handsome Rob, our mascot kitty cat man, and continue working on Halloween planning until 7 p.m.

7:15 p.m.: Grocery store for goodies to make homemade vegetable soup.

7:38 p.m.: At home preparing to cut and simmer fresh carrots, green beans, yellow and green squash, garlic, red bell peppers and tomatoes. It’s not really super-tasty until the second day.

8:16 p.m.: Eat some Special K with berries and watch a Thunder game, “Black Swan” and “Storage Wars” at the same time.

10:02 p.m.: Head downstairs to re-read “Holidays on Ice” … and doze off.

Photo by Shannon Cornman