Black Friday Coupon Winners . . .

Last Friday and Saturday, we had our annual “Make Your Own Coupon” sale in our store – and we offered prizes for the best and/or most creative entries.  All of the entries were attached to a display board, so when the judges (and I was not one of them) made their decisions this morning they had no idea who created what.  Drum roll, please . . .

First Prize ($25 gift certificate) goes to Ginger Deaton . . .

Second Prize ($10 gift certificate) goes to Sandy Barton . . .

Honorable Mentions ($5 gift certificate each) go to Nancy Galusha and Cindy Segersten . . .

And in no particular order, the best of the rest (no prize, but they did get 30% off their purchase) . . .

One additional reminder (this was not an entry into the coupon contest – if it had been, it would have been disqualified for having the wrong percentage) – Tuesday, November 27 (that’s today if you’re reading this when I typed it) is the last day of our big Thanksgiving Weekend Sale. Save 25% sitewide, but hurry – it lasts until I get up in the morning and turn it off.  Just didn’t seem to make much sense for me to stay up until midnight in Hawaii (or to get up early) . . .

A Very Happy Thanksgiving – from EVERYONE in Our Family!

Nala had her stitches removed yesterday, so the protective collar is no longer necessary.  And she is very happy.  So we felt it was only fair to share her joy with you – since we shared her pain last week.  I hope you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving.

And if you need something to occupy your time after (or before) your bird goes to the table, here’s a thought . . .

We had so much fun with our Thanksgiving Weekend Sale last year – so we decided to repeat it this year!  Click on the graphic above and you’ll go to our website, where you can take 25% off your entire purchase now thru Tuesday night!  But please be patient with us – based on last year’s response, it may take us a little longer than usual to ship your orders.  We’ll be working as fast as we can!

Poor Nala . . .

I hope you will share our new cat’s pain (literally and figuratively).  I shot this video with my cell phone on Monday, shortly after she started picking at her stitches and had to be fitted with a protective collar (the whining in the background is Zoe, who was lying at my feet and begging me to let her “help”).  A few days later, she is coping a little better but still doesn’t like it – the collar will come off in a couple of days when the stitches are taken out.  Have a great weekend!

Birthday Party . . .

When I looked at my e-mail on Saturday morning, I found one from Ginger Deaton reminding me that Sunday was Karen’s birthday.  That one has always been easy for me to remember since November 11 is also Veterans’ Day.  But the e-mail also informed me that there would be cake at the store at 2:30 – and that Zoe and I were invited to attend.  So off we went . . .

Shortly after we arrived, in came the cake (and some ice cream) – along with a number of nice ladies who had taken Karen to lunch at a nearby establishment.

Here are a couple of shots of the festivities.  I heard a few people ask Karen how old she is, and she was happy to tell them.  But I was also taught at a very early age that a man should never share a woman’s age – so suffice to say that Karen is four years older than I am, and there have been enough clues about my age on this blog over the years that an industrious soul could figure it out from that!

We have been very fortunate over the years that so many of our customers and friends share our lives with us.

This Started Out as Just Another Picture of the New Cat . . .

I took a cute picture of Nala last night while Ryan was at work – texted it to him because I knew he would enjoy it, and I planned to use it on the blog today . . .

Nala was spayed on Tuesday and is recovering nicely – and doesn’t seem terribly angry with me (I am the one who took her to the vet since Ryan was working).  Our 17½-year-old tomcat seems to be accepting her nicely – Tom took up residence in Nala’s bed while she was eating!

And that was all I planned to say today, until Gary walked in this morning with a reminder and some new information . . .

Here’s the reminder – Our Annual Free Shipping Offer starts today and will run through December 17!  Free shipping on retail orders over $30 shipped to addresses in the Continental U.S. – for orders outside the Continental U.S., we’ll ship by Priority Mail for 1/2 the rate the USPS charges us (there will be some exceptions, but this should work easily for Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Canada, etc.).  When you are asked to “calculate shipping & handling” in your cart, make sure to click on the button that says “Free Shipping”.

And here’s the new information – Distress Stains are now available in the 12 seasonal colors to go with your ink pads!  You had to know it would happen eventually – we should have them in stock and ready to ship within a week or so.  They’re $5.00 each, but you can order all 12 of them for $48.00 and save 20%!

More Video Practice During Scary Season . . .

While I was doing “video practice” on Wednesday, Ginger Deaton told me about a Halloween card she had made.  Sounded interesting, so I told her to e-mail some pictures – even though it was going to be “after the fact” since Halloween had already passed.  And it was interesting . . .

But what really struck me was the new Tim Holtz lantern that was the focal point in the middle of the card.  And pictures didn’t do it justice – so I tried the video thing again.

I’ll warn you ahead of time – I have been shooting this stuff with my cell phone, and this is my first attempt at moving around.  It’s really shaky – I think I would do much better with my old camcorder (it’s bigger and the movements are smoother) so I’ll probably try it next time.  I had really planned for Ginger to do the narration – that was vetoed very quickly.  So I did the best I could, but you’ll learn very quickly that I needed a script.  However, the Halloween theme made its way into the video – for some reason the card seems to ripple back and forth as I moved around.

And there is a surprise near the end that some of you may find interesting . . .