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 . . .

A Busy Shipping Day . . .

They finally arrived yesterday – our first shipment of the new Tim Holtz Distress Markers.  We know (and appreciate) that many of you have been waiting patiently for them – some for more than two months since they were first introduced on Tim’s blog a week or so before CHA.  So we immediately went into Shipping Mode so we could get as many full sets as possible shipped the same day they came in.  We got our first surprise when we opened the boxes . . .

Most of the lids had come off the plastic canisters in transit.  And the bottom was broken off one of the canisters (don’t worry if you placed a preorder – you didn’t get that one).  So a step was added to the process . . .

We put each set of markers into a cocoon of shrink wrap that will hopefully keep everything in one piece until it reaches you.

Debbie and Patti already had stacks of boxes waiting to be filled.  I had to snap the picture of them from another room while they weren’t looking – no doubt I will pay for this later.  Then the boxes came to me, where I was printing out shipping labels.

Made for quite a mountain of boxes – there were about 70 here when I took these shots.  Then we had to get them to the post office – I really wasn’t sure if I could get all of them into the back of my truck.

But I did, and had room for about 15 more than we had.  My bed cover folds back in three sections, and I realized that just one section didn’t do my packing job justice.  So I rolled it all the way back to shoot one last picture, then closed everything and headed for the post office.  There, I got quite a few looks from those in line – first when I grabbed an empty rolling bin from the lobby and wheeled it out the door, then again a few minutes later when I wheeled that overflowing bin back into the lobby, and again as I brought several armloads of boxes that surrounded that bin.

I tried to take a quick picture before a postal worker started moving everything into the sorting room – obviously it was out of focus.  But you get the idea . . .

We’ll go through the process again when the next shipment arrives – hopefully sometime next week.

Distress Marker Update . . .

Thanks to all of you who placed preorders for Tim Holtz’ new Distress Marker sets and have been waiting patiently for them to arrive.  We received word from Ranger overnight that our first shipment of full sets will arrive tomorrow (Wednesday).  We will begin shipping the preorders in the order they were received as soon as UPS arrives.

Another Benefit from Our World Tour . . .

One the things I treasure most about our travels is the friendships we have made over the years.  At every show, there are faces that I have to see before the weekend is complete.  Some of them are vendors, some are customers, and some help us set up and tear down the booth and work in it during the show.  I enjoy the conversations and getting to know more about your families and the local culture.  And the support and encouragement that many of you have shown my mom during her fight with cancer is simply overwhelming.

Today’s entry is another benefit from our travels.  At the Indianapolis show earlier this month, our friends Kaaren Sadtler and Ann Hathaway made their annual appearance to help us with set up and tear down.  And Kaaren brought goodies – Caramel Chip Bars.  They are fantastic – she was kind enough to share the recipe and I made them and took pictures last week.

Here’s what you’ll need (I’ll print the whole recipe at the end of this post so you won’t have to print out all of the pictures):

1/2 cup Butter
32 Kraft Caramels (side note – has anyone else noticed that these things are half the size they were years ago?)
14 oz. Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 Pkg. Yellow Cake Mix, dry
1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
2 Eggs
2 Cups Miniature Chocolate Chips
1 Cup Vanilla or White Chips
3 Heath Candy Bars, 1.4 oz. each, chopped

I made a few changes to this – I like milk chocolate chips and those don’t come in miniature.  And I like fewer chips in my cookies, so I used 1 cup of milk chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of white chips.  I only used two Heath bars – but I was told that next time I need to stick with three to give the finished product a little more “crunch”.  And I always use margarine instead of butter and Egg Beaters instead of eggs.

 

You’ll want something in the background to keep you occupied while you’re making these bars (in my case, it was the NCAA basketball tournament on my computer) – from start to putting the finished product into the refrigerator to cool, this took almost 3½ hours.  And it goes in and out of the oven three times!

Here we go . . .

Line a 9” x 13” pan with aluminum foil and grease; set aside.

Combine the butter, caramels and condensed milk in a microwave safe bowl and microwave, stirring at intervals, until smooth when stirred.  Cool in refrigerator while working on other ingredients.

In a mixing bowl, combine cake mix, oil and eggs; mix well.

Chop the Heath Bars – I broke them up in a Ziploc bag instead of using a chopper, but next time I’ll just buy the Heath Bar Pieces at the grocery.

Stir in chips and candy bar (dough will be stiff).

Press 2/3 of the mixture into baking pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, then cool on a cooling rack for 10 minutes.

Pour caramel mixture over the crust and spread to the edges (getting to lick the spoon or knife after this is an added bonus)

Drop remaining dough by spoonfuls onto caramel layer.

The edges of this recipe tend to get dark and unattractive before the middle gets done – so trim the edges of the pan with foil.

Bake 15 minutes and then remove foil.

Then bake an additional 10-15 minutes or until edges are golden brown.  (I baked mine 14 minutes and it was a little too crumbly for my tastes – I will cut this back to 10-11 minutes next time)

Cool for 10 minutes – then run a knife around the edge of the pan.  Cool for 40 minutes longer, then cover and refrigerate for at least one hour or until serving. 

It was 10:20 when I put mine into the refrigerator, and I intended to go to bed and see how it tasted in the morning – at exactly 11:20, Ryan came downstairs and demanded that we cut into it!

And I suggest you cut this into small pieces – it’s really rich!  Enjoy!

 

Caramel Chip Bars (Kaaren Sadtler)

1/2 cup Butter
32 Kraft Caramels
14 oz. Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 Pkg. Yellow Cake Mix, dry
1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
2 Eggs
2 Cups Miniature Chocolate Chips
1 Cup Vanilla or White Chips
3 Heath Candy Bars, 1.4 oz. each, chopped

Line a 9” x 13” pan with aluminum foil and grease; set aside.

Combine the butter, caramels and condensed milk in a microwave safe bowl and microwave, stirring at intervals, until smooth when stirred.  Cool in refrigerator while working on other ingredients.

In a mixing bowl, combine cake mix, oil and eggs; mix well.

Stir in chips and chopped candy bars (dough will be stiff).

Press 2/3 of the mixture into baking pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, then cool on a cooling rack for 10 minutes.

Pour caramel mixture over the crust and spread to the edges.

Drop remaining dough by spoonfuls onto caramel layer.

The edges of this recipe tend to get dark and unattractive before the middle gets done – so trim the edges of the pan with foil.

Bake 15 minutes and then remove foil.

Then bake an additional 10-15 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

Cool for 10 minutes – then run a knife around the edge of the pan.  Cool for 40 minutes longer, then cover and refrigerate for at least one hour or until serving.