OK, so I love my dog dearly and all, but that little wretch is lucky she's not at the pound tonight given her actions this morning. I called her to come into the kitchen to eat her drug-laced treat (the only way I can get her to take her Prozac without shoving it down her throat) and she didn't come running like she usually does. So, I went in to my bedroom to see what the deal was, when I found her hunkering down on a pillow on my bed like she was in trouble. I knew then that she'd gone to the bathroom somewhere in the house.
Well, as she'd been in the living room, I went in there first to check. Sure enough, she'd left a lovely pile on the carpet. So, back in to my bedroom I went to spank the little beast. However, this backfired on me as the second I spanked her, she peed on my pillow! Seriously. Oh, I was mad. It's a good thing it was on one of my old pillows, rather than on one of the $30 pillows I just got and hadn't had the time to put in a pillow case yet. Anyway, she is not on my good list and my thought is that it's a good thing she's so cute as otherwise, that mutt would be on the street.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Karma
Well, I am just hoping that dear ol' karma doesn't come and bite me in the butt for making fun, but I do have to share today's fun tidbit.
I was heading back to Raleigh from Hillsborough this afternoon, when a car got right on my bumper...and I mean the grill of that car was a nibblin' away at my poor Don Pedro's heiny. So, I did what any sane person would do...I tapped on my brakes. Well, this pissed the guy off and he threw his hands up in the air, like I have some control over speeding up or getting out of his way. You see, there was a slower-moving car in front of me and a huge truck and horse trailer to my right. So, I wasn't able to go anywhere. I threw my hands up in the air back at him. Well, I guess the car in front of me thought that I was motioning at them, which I wasn't as they were driving the speed limit--but in the fast lane, so they got over. This allowed me to speed up and get over.
I was most excited to see that there was a police SUV three lanes over from where I was with the nimrod right behind me. So, as soon as I could, I got over in front of the huge truck and let the jerk fly on by. Apparently, he didn't realize that the large white Suburban with giant black letters that said "POLICE" on it was an actual cop, as he flew right by the cop going about 20-25 mph over the speed limit. I said to my friend, Justin, who was in the passenger seat watching this all go down, "I so hope they pull him over." Justin said, "I doubt they will." But, right then, the cop sped up and was clearly pacing the speeding car.
Well, we were coming up on our exit, so I was a bit disappointed that we wouldn't know the outcome and Justin didn't think we would either, but I was most elated to see the reds and blues start flashing behind the creep, right as we were turning off. Take that Mr. Ford Focus. So, though I'm hoping karma doesn't come and get me, I am most happy that for once a driver who deserved to get caught was actually caught indeed. Good job officer, whoever you are!!
I was heading back to Raleigh from Hillsborough this afternoon, when a car got right on my bumper...and I mean the grill of that car was a nibblin' away at my poor Don Pedro's heiny. So, I did what any sane person would do...I tapped on my brakes. Well, this pissed the guy off and he threw his hands up in the air, like I have some control over speeding up or getting out of his way. You see, there was a slower-moving car in front of me and a huge truck and horse trailer to my right. So, I wasn't able to go anywhere. I threw my hands up in the air back at him. Well, I guess the car in front of me thought that I was motioning at them, which I wasn't as they were driving the speed limit--but in the fast lane, so they got over. This allowed me to speed up and get over.
I was most excited to see that there was a police SUV three lanes over from where I was with the nimrod right behind me. So, as soon as I could, I got over in front of the huge truck and let the jerk fly on by. Apparently, he didn't realize that the large white Suburban with giant black letters that said "POLICE" on it was an actual cop, as he flew right by the cop going about 20-25 mph over the speed limit. I said to my friend, Justin, who was in the passenger seat watching this all go down, "I so hope they pull him over." Justin said, "I doubt they will." But, right then, the cop sped up and was clearly pacing the speeding car.
Well, we were coming up on our exit, so I was a bit disappointed that we wouldn't know the outcome and Justin didn't think we would either, but I was most elated to see the reds and blues start flashing behind the creep, right as we were turning off. Take that Mr. Ford Focus. So, though I'm hoping karma doesn't come and get me, I am most happy that for once a driver who deserved to get caught was actually caught indeed. Good job officer, whoever you are!!
Monday, February 11, 2008
An update...
Well, it's 1:30 in the morning and I really should be heading to bed, but I figured I'd take a moment to post an update, since it's been about three weeks since I have done so.
I have been sitting here for the past hour trying to get my product photos re-sized, as from what my web designer says, I'll be uploading product pictures and descriptions within the next few days. Wahoo!!! I can't even put into words how excited that makes me. It has been sooooo much work and stress, so to finally be at the point that I can see some real progress is really exciting. It's amazing how much behind-the-scenes work it has taken too.
At this point, I have most of my product in (with the exception of my own designs, which are currently being produced) and all of the legal, financial, and advertising stuff seems to be under control. I got word on Friday that my start-up funding has been approved, so that's very exciting too! I have been financing all of the start-up costs out of my own bank account and on my personal credit cards, which is just not fun. It's how most start-ups begin, but the stress of seeing $20,000 on my credit cards is enough to give me a heart attack. It will be nice to have the business finances separated from my personal accounts, as they should be anyway. I set my company up as an LLC so that all legal liabilities would not affect my personal finances (if someone sues me because their dog choked on one of my products, I don't want to lose my retirement fund :)). However, by mixing the finances, I also open up the flood gate of liability too. By getting all of that separated, I can go back to keeping that liability line well drawn.
In super exciting accomplishment news for this past week, I was able to not only get the financing done, but I also signed with an advertiser to do 60,000 mailings in Raleigh's high-income neighborhoods (it's kind of fun to think that my neighbors will be getting an ad mailed to them for my company that's located next door to them) and I'm looking at doing television ads a few months down the road. I also gained an even better connection than I previously had to have my catalogs printed. These catalogs will be used for home parties for product ordering, as well as for those who go to my website and request to receive a catalog.
Also this week, I got all of my inventory moved to my new storage unit so most of it is out of my living room and bedroom now. :) I went over yesterday to work on getting it all arranged and was excited to find that another shipment had been delivered, right to my unit. It's great because UPS, FedEx, etc., all check out a key at the storage company office and secure the shipment inside my unit. So, I don't have to mess with trying to make it to my apartment office before they close to pick up shipments, or worry about hauling the inventory around and lugging it in and out of my car. The cost for the storage unit is well worth it as this is a huge relief for me. I can be on vacation and have my inventory continue to arrive and be securely stored.
Additionally, I decided on Friday night that I'm going to carry my own line of dog collars and leashes and purchased some products yesterday to get going with that. I'm meeting with two of my seamstresses tomorrow night anyway to go over the final mock-ups of my initial designs in all of the color combinations I picked so that I can get the photos taken and edited, etc. Well, I'm also going to run the collar and leash idea by them as well. I think it'll be really easy for them to do it, so hopefully they'll agree. I am also meeting tomorrow with the person who is doing my custom picture frames that will match my dog crate covers and bedding line. I'm really excited to see how that turns out! The seamstresses are starting in on my bedding as soon as I sign off on the dresses, as I have a tentative appointment with a local retailer who is interested in carrying my bedding line through their store. There are two or three other stores I am still going to be approaching to see about them retailing my products, but at this point, I'm more focused on just getting the products pulled together. It seems like there are still a billion and one things to do, with so little time in which to do them. I told my mom that she needs to come stay with me for a few months so that she can help me get all of this finished. It's too bad she's not retired.
In other news, I have just gotten through four days of Matza having an allergic reaction. My guess is that she reacted to the fertilizer they just put on the lawns. Her skin just went insanely pink and puffy all over--it looked SOOOOOO painful. I called the vet to see about getting her in for a steroid shot, but the vet first had me give her 1/2 teaspoon of children's Benadryl every 12 hours. That seems to have worked, but it took a couple of days before it really showed a great improvement. The poor thing was just a suffering. I tried everything I could think of to help calm her skin down and I'm glad the Benadryl finally worked. I had to have her Prozac prescription renewed and the dosage increased as it seems to be helping, but not quite enough. We'll see how the new dosage goes.
Well, that's about it for me. I reckon I'd better get to bed. I hope all is well with all ya'll!
Hasta,
mi
I have been sitting here for the past hour trying to get my product photos re-sized, as from what my web designer says, I'll be uploading product pictures and descriptions within the next few days. Wahoo!!! I can't even put into words how excited that makes me. It has been sooooo much work and stress, so to finally be at the point that I can see some real progress is really exciting. It's amazing how much behind-the-scenes work it has taken too.
At this point, I have most of my product in (with the exception of my own designs, which are currently being produced) and all of the legal, financial, and advertising stuff seems to be under control. I got word on Friday that my start-up funding has been approved, so that's very exciting too! I have been financing all of the start-up costs out of my own bank account and on my personal credit cards, which is just not fun. It's how most start-ups begin, but the stress of seeing $20,000 on my credit cards is enough to give me a heart attack. It will be nice to have the business finances separated from my personal accounts, as they should be anyway. I set my company up as an LLC so that all legal liabilities would not affect my personal finances (if someone sues me because their dog choked on one of my products, I don't want to lose my retirement fund :)). However, by mixing the finances, I also open up the flood gate of liability too. By getting all of that separated, I can go back to keeping that liability line well drawn.
In super exciting accomplishment news for this past week, I was able to not only get the financing done, but I also signed with an advertiser to do 60,000 mailings in Raleigh's high-income neighborhoods (it's kind of fun to think that my neighbors will be getting an ad mailed to them for my company that's located next door to them) and I'm looking at doing television ads a few months down the road. I also gained an even better connection than I previously had to have my catalogs printed. These catalogs will be used for home parties for product ordering, as well as for those who go to my website and request to receive a catalog.
Also this week, I got all of my inventory moved to my new storage unit so most of it is out of my living room and bedroom now. :) I went over yesterday to work on getting it all arranged and was excited to find that another shipment had been delivered, right to my unit. It's great because UPS, FedEx, etc., all check out a key at the storage company office and secure the shipment inside my unit. So, I don't have to mess with trying to make it to my apartment office before they close to pick up shipments, or worry about hauling the inventory around and lugging it in and out of my car. The cost for the storage unit is well worth it as this is a huge relief for me. I can be on vacation and have my inventory continue to arrive and be securely stored.
Additionally, I decided on Friday night that I'm going to carry my own line of dog collars and leashes and purchased some products yesterday to get going with that. I'm meeting with two of my seamstresses tomorrow night anyway to go over the final mock-ups of my initial designs in all of the color combinations I picked so that I can get the photos taken and edited, etc. Well, I'm also going to run the collar and leash idea by them as well. I think it'll be really easy for them to do it, so hopefully they'll agree. I am also meeting tomorrow with the person who is doing my custom picture frames that will match my dog crate covers and bedding line. I'm really excited to see how that turns out! The seamstresses are starting in on my bedding as soon as I sign off on the dresses, as I have a tentative appointment with a local retailer who is interested in carrying my bedding line through their store. There are two or three other stores I am still going to be approaching to see about them retailing my products, but at this point, I'm more focused on just getting the products pulled together. It seems like there are still a billion and one things to do, with so little time in which to do them. I told my mom that she needs to come stay with me for a few months so that she can help me get all of this finished. It's too bad she's not retired.
In other news, I have just gotten through four days of Matza having an allergic reaction. My guess is that she reacted to the fertilizer they just put on the lawns. Her skin just went insanely pink and puffy all over--it looked SOOOOOO painful. I called the vet to see about getting her in for a steroid shot, but the vet first had me give her 1/2 teaspoon of children's Benadryl every 12 hours. That seems to have worked, but it took a couple of days before it really showed a great improvement. The poor thing was just a suffering. I tried everything I could think of to help calm her skin down and I'm glad the Benadryl finally worked. I had to have her Prozac prescription renewed and the dosage increased as it seems to be helping, but not quite enough. We'll see how the new dosage goes.
Well, that's about it for me. I reckon I'd better get to bed. I hope all is well with all ya'll!
Hasta,
mi
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Handyman Kade
Well, this is too funny and well worth taking time away from all I need to do to blog about. I just got today's mail and amongst all the credit card offers, corporate identity design offers, and the Val-Pak coupons, I found a little interesting tidbit...well, not so little as it was a huge, blazing orange envelope. The envelople contained information inviting your's truly to become...a member of the Handyman Club of America! Yes, friends, it's true. According to the invitation, "it's no secret among [my] friends and family that [I am] an outstanding handyman. As someone who is passionately devoted to do-it-yourself home improvement and maybe even woodworking, [I'm] exactly the kind of person [the] Club is looking for." (At this point, I checked to make sure I hadn't accidentally gotten someone else's mail.)
As anyone who knows me can well attest, I am about the least handy person that exists on the face of this planet. I make Bob Vila look like a god. As a prime example of this, the letter came with some freebies, one of which was a Drill Guage. It's a large plastic disc with holes cut in it with the size of the drill bits listed to the side of each hole. I had to read further in order to figure out what this contraption is. I thought it was just an odd drill bit holder or something. What a wonderful freebie. And, speaking of freebies, though I won't be sending my $12/year subscription dues or joining the Minentonka, Minnesota-based club that is not for "lukewarm handymen", I will, however, fully utilize the free address labels that have the Handyman logo, complete with hammer, next to my name. This, at least, is proof that I am indeed a handyman. Even if I don't know how to be handy.
As anyone who knows me can well attest, I am about the least handy person that exists on the face of this planet. I make Bob Vila look like a god. As a prime example of this, the letter came with some freebies, one of which was a Drill Guage. It's a large plastic disc with holes cut in it with the size of the drill bits listed to the side of each hole. I had to read further in order to figure out what this contraption is. I thought it was just an odd drill bit holder or something. What a wonderful freebie. And, speaking of freebies, though I won't be sending my $12/year subscription dues or joining the Minentonka, Minnesota-based club that is not for "lukewarm handymen", I will, however, fully utilize the free address labels that have the Handyman logo, complete with hammer, next to my name. This, at least, is proof that I am indeed a handyman. Even if I don't know how to be handy.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
An Update
Well, it has indeed been some time since I last posted. However, life has been beyond insane for me and it doesn't look to be slowing any time soon. I am only about two weeks away from my company launch and it's absolute mayhem in my life right now. To top it off, I had to deal with the vet for two days over Matza's care (or lack thereof) as they ended up giving the poor little pooch a chemical burn from the shampoo---which I told them not to use in the first place. $364 and a whole bunch of steroid shots and stress later, she's doing much better. However, she's also now on Prozac as she's a very anxious little dog that bites her own fur off her back. It actually seems to be helping, but it's kind of a pain as I have to put that and her allergy pill inside a little dollop of peanut butter on top of one of her treats so that I don't have to shove the pills down her throat. She just thinks she gets a treat every morning. Little does she know. :)
In other news, the seamstress I had hoped to use has turned out to not be completely what I had hoped for. She sent me an estimate last night for $5000 to draw four patterns--and that doesn't include materials cost or the fact that I'm the one who came up with the actual designs. So, we're back in negotiations, but I have a feeling my kick-off date might be affected a little. Well, that or I'll just have to open without that part of my product line (which was the whole inspiration to begin with, so it's kind of a bugger). However, I have enough other vendors and items I'll be utilizing that it won't really destroy everything. I am just stressed on that one. Despite this, everything else is going very well--I just wish I had about three of me and 50 hours in a given day so that I could sleep AND get work done. I finally have all the inventory shelving and storage in place--after dropping the metal storage shelving on my big toe last night, crushing the thing and skinning the top of it off. That kind of hurt. However, the shelving racks look great and not at all tacky in my room. I had to spend a small fortune to pull this off, but I think it was worth it as I worked very hard to get my room to look how it does so I don't want to ruin it now.
I also got my new laptop (which I'm using now to write this) and I am beyond in love with it already. It is beyond fast--plus it has 250 GB of hard drive memory and a 500 GB back-up hard drive, so I think I should have enough memory space there. I also got my color laserjet printer, shipping scale and postage/label printer (they print side by side so I don't have to change out the label rolls to print both), my VOIP phone (which doesn't have to be hooked directly to my computer, as the base of it hooks directly to my wireless router while the cordless phone sits in the other room on my desk), my phone lines are good to go (toll-free, local, fax), the merchant account is all ready as soon as I get the final info back on my business checking, the zoning permit, LLC certification, and business license are all official and back to me, I got my business Visa card--but also had to bump my personal card to a $10,000 limit in order to cover all these crazy start-up expenses, I have my contractor and consultant agreements and confidentiality agreements all in place, my accounting software, etc., is all set up, and I have wholesale accounts set up with more vendors than I will possibly use at the beginning. I will order in about 750 t-shirts by the end of this week, once I narrow down which of the 70+ sayings I want to start with. I have my Duds for Studs, Stitches for Bitches, and Couture for Charity lines to divy those sayings amongst, but I still am not going to use all of them at first.
Oh, and in the middle of all of this, I've still been getting law school apps together (I have no idea at this point if I will go this fall or if I'll postpone, as it all depends on how the business is going--but I want my options open), and I have also been designing new product lines I hope to roll out soon too. My actual full-time job has been, um, interesting, to say the least. So, I'm looking at some options for change there. Essentially, my life is one big upheaval at this point. I spend so much time working that the rest of my life gets neglected, but at this point I don't have much choice. I found myself having friends over the other night for movie night--but I ended up sitting on the couch with my laptop, typing away while the movie played. I'd like to just have one night where I could relax without stressing over what's not getting done. I just keep reminding myself of how much progress I've made and how great the final product will be because of this work--somehow that helps to offset the lack of sleep and the stress I feel.
Other than that, there's not much to report. I wish I had my own apartment with no roommate, but that's a story for a whole other time. Meanwhile, I have to finish up some vendor stuff and then get to bed since I have an early morning meeting with the Durham Bulls marketing person, since we just signed to be their group sponsor again this season. I have been trying to get that marketing strategy put together, but then I also have a lot of other projects and a complete revamp of this quarter's contractor newsletter that I thought I was done with...until the senior VP wanted even more added. So, today was spent writing article after article in an effort to cover all the new material and double the size of the newsletter. Granted, this will be one of the few times the newsletter is this big, but it's just a lot of work to get through in two days as I want it completely finished and sent to all 750 contractors by this Friday. Anyway, enough chit chat. I'm going to work and then off to bed.
I hope all is well with each of you! And, remember, no dog deserves to be naked! (hint. hint.)
In other news, the seamstress I had hoped to use has turned out to not be completely what I had hoped for. She sent me an estimate last night for $5000 to draw four patterns--and that doesn't include materials cost or the fact that I'm the one who came up with the actual designs. So, we're back in negotiations, but I have a feeling my kick-off date might be affected a little. Well, that or I'll just have to open without that part of my product line (which was the whole inspiration to begin with, so it's kind of a bugger). However, I have enough other vendors and items I'll be utilizing that it won't really destroy everything. I am just stressed on that one. Despite this, everything else is going very well--I just wish I had about three of me and 50 hours in a given day so that I could sleep AND get work done. I finally have all the inventory shelving and storage in place--after dropping the metal storage shelving on my big toe last night, crushing the thing and skinning the top of it off. That kind of hurt. However, the shelving racks look great and not at all tacky in my room. I had to spend a small fortune to pull this off, but I think it was worth it as I worked very hard to get my room to look how it does so I don't want to ruin it now.
I also got my new laptop (which I'm using now to write this) and I am beyond in love with it already. It is beyond fast--plus it has 250 GB of hard drive memory and a 500 GB back-up hard drive, so I think I should have enough memory space there. I also got my color laserjet printer, shipping scale and postage/label printer (they print side by side so I don't have to change out the label rolls to print both), my VOIP phone (which doesn't have to be hooked directly to my computer, as the base of it hooks directly to my wireless router while the cordless phone sits in the other room on my desk), my phone lines are good to go (toll-free, local, fax), the merchant account is all ready as soon as I get the final info back on my business checking, the zoning permit, LLC certification, and business license are all official and back to me, I got my business Visa card--but also had to bump my personal card to a $10,000 limit in order to cover all these crazy start-up expenses, I have my contractor and consultant agreements and confidentiality agreements all in place, my accounting software, etc., is all set up, and I have wholesale accounts set up with more vendors than I will possibly use at the beginning. I will order in about 750 t-shirts by the end of this week, once I narrow down which of the 70+ sayings I want to start with. I have my Duds for Studs, Stitches for Bitches, and Couture for Charity lines to divy those sayings amongst, but I still am not going to use all of them at first.
Oh, and in the middle of all of this, I've still been getting law school apps together (I have no idea at this point if I will go this fall or if I'll postpone, as it all depends on how the business is going--but I want my options open), and I have also been designing new product lines I hope to roll out soon too. My actual full-time job has been, um, interesting, to say the least. So, I'm looking at some options for change there. Essentially, my life is one big upheaval at this point. I spend so much time working that the rest of my life gets neglected, but at this point I don't have much choice. I found myself having friends over the other night for movie night--but I ended up sitting on the couch with my laptop, typing away while the movie played. I'd like to just have one night where I could relax without stressing over what's not getting done. I just keep reminding myself of how much progress I've made and how great the final product will be because of this work--somehow that helps to offset the lack of sleep and the stress I feel.
Other than that, there's not much to report. I wish I had my own apartment with no roommate, but that's a story for a whole other time. Meanwhile, I have to finish up some vendor stuff and then get to bed since I have an early morning meeting with the Durham Bulls marketing person, since we just signed to be their group sponsor again this season. I have been trying to get that marketing strategy put together, but then I also have a lot of other projects and a complete revamp of this quarter's contractor newsletter that I thought I was done with...until the senior VP wanted even more added. So, today was spent writing article after article in an effort to cover all the new material and double the size of the newsletter. Granted, this will be one of the few times the newsletter is this big, but it's just a lot of work to get through in two days as I want it completely finished and sent to all 750 contractors by this Friday. Anyway, enough chit chat. I'm going to work and then off to bed.
I hope all is well with each of you! And, remember, no dog deserves to be naked! (hint. hint.)
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