Signs of Life . . . Everywhere

There are little ones all over the place – I really have to be careful where I drive these days.  When I pulled up to the back door of the store on Thursday, there was a little one hopping around on the walk – obviously too young to fly yet.

He (she?) didn’t seem to mind me stopping to watch, and was a photogenic little tyke.  But some of the little ones have more adult supervision, like this bunch that I saw driving in my Mom & Dad’s complex yesterday after church . . .

I like ducklings – they don’t grow up to be annoying like Canadian Geese.  Used to think those were cute, too – back in the days when there were only a few of them.  Now, they’re everywhere.  When Ryan was playing football in high school, they had to share their practice field with a flock of Canadian Geese (and their droppings).  I washed his practice uniform in hot water every night!

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Update on my mom . . . we get her PET Scan results at 9:00 on Wednesday morning.  I will not kid you – she is scared to death and preparing herself for the worst.  I guess that’s to be expected – better to be pleasantly surprised by good news than devastated by bad.  I made a comment yesterday morning about how pleased I was to see that her hair had come back “salt and pepper” – she has had it colored for so long that I wouldn’t have been surprised if it was completely white.  Her response had something to do with “we’ll see how long I get to keep it.”

This all caught me a little off-guard – I tend to think that way at times, but I didn’t realize that she did as well (though I had to get it someplace).  My mom can always put on a cheery front – I can remember when I was little, at bedtime she would always tell me to “wake up with a happy face.” 

As always, we appreciate your prayers.  We have been pointing toward Wednesday since early October.  Now we’re only two days away, and it can’t get here fast enough.  One way or the other, the next post you read here will share the details.

They’re Here, But . . .

Over the past two days, the new Distress Pads and Reinkers have started to arrive.  And we have started collecting them on a table so we can package them together – since most of you took advantage of our special and ordered the new pads and all nine reinkers.  But we’re finding that none of our suppliers realized that the reinkers for the Fall and Winter Sets would be as popular as we suspected . . .

This is what the table looked like about noon today.  Those three looooooong rows of reinkers are for the Spring colors, the shorter rows are the Fall and Winter colors.  And I was going into panic mode once I noticed (I’m sure you did as well) that one of those rows was dangerously short.  But shortly after, Gary walked in with a box from another supplier, and the short row became much longer.

So the first 30 orders for Spring Pads and All Nine Reinkers will be shipping today and tomorrow, and we will keep scrounging for more so we can fill the rest of them as quickly as we can.

Two Desk Chairs Lead to a Good Night’s Work . . .

One of these days, I will get around to telling stories from the shows in Akron and Allentown (or maybe I won’t – after a while, they probably get a little stale).  But this is an Akron story that I promised to tell.

This is a shot of my room at the Country Inn & Suites in Cuyahoga Falls, OH – I took it just before I checked out on Sunday morning.  This hotel is about four miles from the Knight Center and is very convenient – we always use it if I remember to make the reservations early enough.  But my room didn’t start with two desk chairs – it started with the bigger one in the corner.  And it hurt my back . . .

I had spent three days on a golf trip in Georgia – in an area so remote that we didn’t have internet access or a cell phone signal that was good for more than an occasional text.  I got home late Wednesday night, spent all day Thursday getting ready for the show and packing the truck, drove to Akron Thursday evening, got up early Friday morning and set up all day.  What this meant more than anything was by Friday evening, I had a week of e-mails to work through.  But I have back trouble – and five minutes after I sat in that desk chair, I was in pain and knew it would only get worse.

So I went to the front desk and asked if I could borrow a chair from the breakfast room for the evening.  Kelly at the front desk did even better.  He told me to go to the business center and try the chairs there – and if I found a comfortable chair there, I could take it to my room and keep it for the weekend.  I did, and I did . . .

And it gets better.  Saturday morning, I needed to print some signs to announce the new Limited Edition Distress Inks.  Printers in hotel business centers are usually black & white, and color signs are simply better.  So I found a FedEx Office (I still call them Kinko’s) nearby and drove there at 7:30 in the morning.  But I didn’t realize there were Kinko’s that weren’t open 24 hours – this one didn’t open until 9:00!

Oh well – back to the hotel and black & white signs from the business center.  Or so I thought – until I got there and found that there were people at both computers.  So back to the front desk I went, where I explained my dilemma to Lia.  She took my flash drive, went to the manager’s office, and printed color copies for me.

I travel a lot, and usually am treated well by the hotel staff.  But these two went above and beyond the call – and I told both of them that I would send an e-mail of thanks to their manager when I got home.  And it seemed only fair that I share it with you as well.

The Most Beautiful Head of Hair I Have Ever Seen . . .

The first day back at work after a few days off is always challenging – especially when it’s also the day to load the truck for a show.  The general rule of thumb for me is if I set a time when I’d like to be on the road, I should add two or three hours to it.  And yesterday was one of those days – I wanted to be on the way to Akron by 5:00, and finally got out about 7:30.

But in all of that was an unexpected bonus.  My parents flew back from Arizona yesterday and got home about 6:30.  I had already told them that they would land about the time I left and I wouldn’t see them until Monday.  But when 7:00 rolled around and I was still in Dayton, it seemed like an opportunity that was too good to pass up.

And I was so right . . . We have hair!!!

I really didn’t expect it – Mom had been told that it might be up to a year before her follicles started producing again.  It was so good to see them again after almost three months.

Mom’s PET Scan is Monday or Tuesday, and she gets the results on May 9.  If all comes back clear, we may be out of the woods.  Thanks to all of you who have been so supportive these past six months.

Proof Positive That Ranger Has Ears . . .

What was the major gripe with the Fall Limited Edition Distress Pads?  With the Winter Limited Edition Distress Pads?  No reinkers! 

 

Yesterday while I was driving home from three days of golf in Georgia, Ranger announced the Spring Limited Edition Distress Pads.  But wait, there’s more . . .

Limited Edition Reinkers!  Wait a minute . . . are there nine bottles there?  Yes, there are!  There are now reinkers available for the Spring Set and the previously released Winter and Fall Sets!

Now as many of you know, our best ideas come from our customers -- and this one came from Robyn Josephs.  There was a note on our Facebook page this morning -- "so Greg- a special if I want to order the Spring seasonal distress and all 9 seasonal reinkers??"  And I have to admit that I hadn't thought of it at all (I was probably still in "golf mode").  So Gary and I got our heads together this morning and here it is . . .

Order the Spring Set and All Nine Reinkers (retail $62.90) for $49.95!

Here’s the Spring Distress Set announcement from Tim Holtz if you’d like to see it:

The Bent Piece of Gridwall That May Have Saved Me . . .

Enough people expressed concern after I mentioned the piece of gridwall that I guess this story needs to come next.

This is the star of the story – it is also the end of the story.  Here is the rest . . .

When we unload the truck and build our show booth, the gridwall is usually the first thing that comes off.  Makes sense, doesn’t it?  Build the booth first, then put products into it.  For trivia buffs, it takes 22 pieces of gridwall to build our booth – 17 of them are 4’ x 7’ and 5 are 2’ x 7’.  I strap them to the side of the truck when we’re traveling – the big pieces together and the little pieces together.  And yes, they are heavy.

But we had new rolling racks for some of our merchandise (that’s another story) and I needed to pull them off first.  I realized afterward that for the first time, there were no boxes holding up the gridwall as I took them off the truck one by one.  So I pulled several pieces out from the wall a little and leaned them against the remaining pieces.  Kept repeating the process after one or two pieces came off.  But apparently I must have missed repositioning it at least once.

I never saw it coming – in an instant, I was slammed against the side of the truck by ten or eleven pieces of gridwall.  My head hit the side of the truck (OK, I’m fine – so I’ll laugh when some of you think that may have been the hardest part of me anyway) and the weight of the gridwall sat me down hard.  I have already been dealing with some back issues for a few months, so my first thought was that all of my chiropractor’s good work the day before had just been wasted.

That bent piece of gridwall was the first piece that hit me – and then it hit the truck wall after I got knocked down and supported all the rest of the pieces and kept them off me.  I really don’t know what might have happened otherwise, but that’s several hundred pounds of gridwall and I assume it could have been more than a little uncomfortable.

As it was, I was very sore – but the next morning I wasn’t nearly as sore as I expected to be.  And I made it through the show fine.  When I got home from Allentown, I went to the chiropractor (which is where I got the bell tower picture in the previous post).  He put me up on his table and just laughed – listed about seven things that had been knocked out of place.  And then he put them back where they belonged.  Of course, my major worry was the upcoming golf trip (I am in Georgia playing golf for three days this week).

So thanks for your concern.  I’m fine – but I’m also fortunate.  And I’m thankful that it wasn’t worse.

For Whom the Bell Tolls . . .

I have stories to tell, and this week I have had no time to tell them.  So I’ll just tease them here, and hopefully over the next week or so I’ll get them all told.  I came back from Allentown with stories of carts on wheels, homemade dog treats for Zoe, and a bent piece of gridwall that may have saved my life.  And on Tuesday, I learned to count to 37 – over and over again.

But this is what you get today.  I went to the chiropractor this week.  Across the street, a Catholic church broke ground recently and work has begun to construct a new sanctuary on their campus.  It has been fun to watch the progress as the steel beams went up and the skeletal shape of a church appeared.  But while I was in Allentown, something new appeared that I had never considered . . .

The bell was hung in the bell tower before the tower was constructed.  I guess this makes sense – but in my mind I saw the new church, completely finished, and some kind of ceremony being held while a crane hoisted the new bell up to the top of the tower where it was put in place and rung for the first time.

I realize it’s easier this way, but it just seemed strange.  Or maybe I’m the one who is strange . . .