Scrapbook Fever! Blog

Finding balance…it doesn’t sound that hard.  Why has this become such a hard concept for me to grasp?  I don’t think, in my previous life, that this was a problem for me.  I had a 8-5 job, participated in school events with the kids, attended holiday functions with our extended family and friends, etc.  Now, I feel guilty if I have a vacation!  And you know the worse part, I WANT TO SCRAPBOOK!!!

Ok, so I know I have talked to my friends and colleagues about this before…heck, I probably wrote about it on my blog (shouldn’t be hard to check it out…this is, what, number 5 entry!!! Aghhh, I didn’t know blogging would be so difficult!) but nothing has changed.  Well, a little has changed.  But I am still struggling to find that balance of work, family, friends and just having fun!!!

Maybe many of us who own their own businesses have the same issue.  Or maybe I have lost myself a little in the last few years while I was trying so hard to be a success at my new job.  Whichever is the case, I am still struggling to find balance.

I think with the birth of my grandbaby that I am really trying to focus on trying to find that balance that will make me happy as well as serving the needs of my loved ones.  Of course, if I had my way, I would spend 8 hours a day playing with Kalli, 2 hours a day working, 1 hour ironing (I know but it relaxes me) and 3-4 hours a day scrapbooking.  Hmmm, life would be so good…

Bud and I were on a road trip recently and passed a lot of strip malls and such up and down the I-5 corridor.  After a bit, I asked him…”where are all of the independent retailers?”  Have you noticed that when you go into a mall or strip mall lately that there are hardly any independent restaurants or stores any more?  You used to be able to get some great food from the little mom and pop restaurants and always see some independent retailers at the malls.  Not anymore.  Now all the spaces are chains and big box stores and even some of our best loved chain stores are gone.

We stopped at one strip mall I believe by Phoenix Oregon and headed for the Scrapbook Store.  It was gone.  Now I know that the cost of rent at malls and strip malls is outrageous but we are seeing more and more independents gone regardless of location.  Not just craft related but automotive, clothing stores, restaurants, gas stations, video stores…the list goes on and on.

What is happening?  I know that this hasn’t happened overnight.  I just have been very busy.  I have read the articles about the death of the independent camera stores.  Are we far behind?

What a loss that would be!  One of the things I love most about my independent hair salon is that they know me by name and I love getting caught up from everyone at the shop.  I love the atmosphere and probably can get my hair done cheaper and quicker at a local chain store but that is not what I want.  It makes me shiver when Sandi starts talking about retiring in a year or two!

Can you imagine how differently you would feel if there were no more independent scrapbook stores to shop at?  What would we give up?  Personalized classes.  Personalized customer service.  Personalized ordering (when is the last time to you tried to get a chain store to order in a specific product for you?) that does not include shipping charges.  Everybody knows your name…does that happen at Michaels?  Special events geared towards your favorite hobby.  Did I mention the crops?  Can you imagine only being able to attend a crop once a year when the CK Convention comes to a town close to you or having to travel miles away to attend?

I know that I am later than most in my eye-opening experience.  In these times (did I hear a recession is coming?), better late than never.  Thank you for supporting THIS independent retailer!!!

Many of you know that Nick, my son, and Mackenzie, his girlfriend, were expecting twins, and we have been bursting with excitement and anticipation for some time now. Although the babies were due on or about March 12^th, the doctor had warned us that they would most likely be early. We also learned, as the pregnancy advanced, that one of the twins, our little Brooklyn, had some issues with her heart and would require surgery sometime after she was born.
Mackenzie was admitted to Providence St. Vincent’s Hospital on January 17^th after the twins, specifically Brooklyn, was showing signs of some distress. They put her on strict bed rest which really was torturous because we stole Nick away for a pre-planned trip to Las Vegas to celebrate his 21^st birthday. Nick came home early on Sunday, January 20^th and the rest of us (Katina, Marco, Bud and I) came back as planned on Wednesday, January 23^rd.

We stopped in to check on Mackenzie late Wednesday night and things were going fine. Bud and I had to pick up some baby items at Babies R Us (a grandmother’s dream store!) and of course stopped by to see Mackenzie again Thursday night. At 8:00 p.m., they had just hooked her up to the monitors to check on the babies heart beats and within a short time, we realized that this may very well be their birthday!!!

At about 9:30ish, when we were more positive, Bud took off to get the car to Nick (we took the van to haul all of our baby treasures home leaving him no transportation!) and they started prepping Mackenzie for a C-Section (required due to other complications that Mackenzie was experiencing). Much of what happened is still a blurr, it all happened so fast! Since no Nick yet and they didn’t have time to wait, they dressed me up in what I will now refer to as a StaPuff Marshmallow outfit and I was paceing outside of the surgery room waiting for my cue.

The doctor had gone to scrub up and I knew I was just moments away from watching my grandbabies make their grand entrance when a nurse comes screaming around the corner “Don’t go in there!!! Nick is on his way”!!! Nick was running down the hallway all dressed and ready to go. Although I was just moments from obtaining the magic bracelet (to allow me in), I was so happy that he got there in time!!!

As many of you know, your happiest day can suddenly become your saddest most heartbreaking day. Brooklyn was born at 11:42 pm and Kalli soon followed at 11:45 pm January 24^th. Unfortunately, Brooklyn passed away at 1:00 a.m. on January 25^th.

I cannot describe the heart break of watching your child being led away by doctors to be given the most horrendous news of his life and not being able to do anything about it. When Nick returned, I knew it was bad and that I was about to hear words that I could not even bring myself to consider in the last 4 months. They led Nick and I to Brooklyn and told us that she had respiratory issues that couldn’t be fixed (among other things, her trachea had not fully developed correctly and was not attached to her lungs), and that there was nothing they could do.

Soon, they led us to Mackenzie’s room and brought Brooklyn to us for her last moments on earth. We are truly blessed to even have such a brief time with our littlest angel before she was returned to God.

Kalli, although very small, is doing wonderful. She will be in the NICU for another few weeks so the I-5 corridor will be looking very familiar to us all!!! We are truly blessed to have her.

It is still very difficult for me to talk about but I thought I would let you know the heart of the story. I so appreciate and welcome your prayers for all of us. Soon we will have pictures of Kalli and of course our angel Brooklyn. Scrapbooking is an amazing way to work through your grief as well as document your happiness.

We held a small and private service for Brooklyn yesterday. All of your thoughts and prayers will be greatly appreciated.

Greetings from the Windy City!

And they aren’t kidding!  Since we arrived on Monday night, it has been rainy with lighting and thunder storms every day.  Of course, all this is happening while it is about 80 degrees!  Yikes!  Not that it really bothers me and Katina…we have been in all day for the last two days ordering product like crazy!

We are very excited to hit the show floor tomorrow.  Tonight we have 5 VIP events to participate in…Fiskars (includes Cloud 9 and Heidi Grace), Creative Imaginations, Making Memories, SEI, and Luxe Designs.  At our buying groups pre show, we have already placed about 15 orders so we are well on our way to pack the store with new products that I hope everyone will love!

We had a great time at an event that featured make n takes.  We have some very cute examples from Creative Imaginations, KI Memories, Carolees Creations!  We had a great little chat with Elsie Flanagan as Katina was doing the make n take.  Elsie is absolutely adorable and I feel like I just sit and stare at her!  I hope I didn’t make a total fool out of myself!  But she is really cute and we can’t get over the fact that she is only 24 years old and is so successful in her field.

Oh and more great news yesterday.  I ran into Marah Johnson (Designer extraordinaire for Creative Imaginations; she was the power brain behind the whole Be Creative Line just to mention one!) and we are going to try to book up some classes for her to teach the first part of September!  She is one of the nicest (and spunkiest!) people I have met in the industry.  Wouldn’t it be great if we could get her AND Karen Russell (also from Creative Imaginations fame and one of our favorite guest teachers/designers) to come in at the same weekend?  Aw, the possibilities!!! Keep your fingers crossed!

I am going to drag Bud with us the next couple of days to take pictures of some of the products we ordered and post to the website so you can check them out.  I really wanted to send back some samples so the girls could get started in making up new displays (there is some CUTE stuff coming in) but it probably wouldn’t get there any quicker than if I bring it back on Monday.  In fact, Bud tried to get our flight changed to come home a day early (after the show on Sunday night) but I can’t justify the $1000 difference (PER TICKET!) for Katina and I.  We are excited to get this stuff back but you will just have to wait a day longer!

Watch for pics soon!

Terrance Claire finally made her appearance approximately 3:30 p.m. this afternoon after a grueling 35+ hours of labor.  Weighing in at a svelt 7lbs, 8oz and just 20 1/4″ long, she is gorgeous!  Alycia is still in a lot of pain but mother and baby are doing well under the circumstances.  Watching Joe hold his adorable little baby was enough to bring tears to my eyes…even now just thinking about it.  There were tons of pictures taken but not with my camera so we may have to wait a few days (our webmaster is going out of town early tomorrow morning!) but we will get them up as soon as possible!  

As you might have imagined, our trip to Utah was not exactly going as planned.  Where was I? Oh yeah.  We were about to begin two fun filled days with QuicKutz.  Thursday started out good enough.  We were introduced to QuicKutz newest die cuts and we love them!  Wait until you see what they have done and the really good part, the cost is drastically reduced compared to other dies that they manufacture.  So far, so good.  I met with our rep and attended a few classes; Bud got the call that the van was ready to pick up…all was good…right?

Well, the trouble began when Bud drove back to Salt Lake City to pick up the van.  He returned the rental, paid for the repairs and went out & started up the van.  The same noise.  The van was making the exact same noise that we brang it in for!  Bud brought the mechanic out to listen…the mechanic insisted that the van hadn’t made THAT noise since we had dropped it off the day before!  The mechanic tried to figure out where that noise was coming from to no avail.  Bud decided to drive it to Provo and take it to another shop on Friday.  Sheesh.  Now, don’t get me wrong…the mechanic was not trying to pull a fast one.  It appears that the van was experiencing more than one complication all at the same time!

Bud made it back to Provo in time to attend the QuicKutz manufacturing plant tour.  After sitting down for most of the day in classes, my back was really starting to bother me.  We had to take a shuttle to the plant and then wait, in the 90 degree heat, while the owner of QuicKutz (Mark was the actual engineer of the handle and die cuts after Natasha nagged him to design the tool for her six year ago!) finished up the previous tour group.  The tour was very interesting and VERY thorough. 

My back was really bothering me and I don’t normally suffer from back pains.  Oh, and did I mention that Whitney called from the store and was having computer problems?  It seems every time Bud leaves, we have computer problems!  At the end of the tour, the shuttle was stopping at their business offices for a cookie. Bud and I passed that up so we could walk Whitney through fixing the computer and rest.

When we got back to the hotel, dinner was served.  After dinner, there were announcements and Bud had to call his Aunt to check up on her.  I started feeling much worse and within 15 – 20 minutes, I had to leave.  By the time I got to our room, I was aching from head to toe and shivering with fever.  To make a long story a bit shorter, I was sick with the flu for the next 36 hours!!!

So, Friday was pretty much a blur.  In bed all day.  Bud had more problems with the van and ended up with just a tune up so that he felt comfortable taking the van back through the desert on the way home.  We missed all of the QuicKutz classes scheduled that day and all the good food!!!

We checked out Saturday morning and because I was feeling better, I insisted that we stop by the original Pebbles in my Pocket scrapbook store!  It was fabulous!  Great choices in product and GREAT examples!  Then, on my insistance, we stopped by IKEA.  Ok, I really had no idea about how good this store was.  It is a must see when it opens in Portland next month.  We wandered around just part of it (it took 45 minutes to see maybe ¼ of the store offerings) and I was exhausted!  A waitress told us that there were people camped out for three days before the store opened.  Sheesh!!! You are going to love that store but I wouldn’t camp out 3 days for anything! 

So now we are home.  Still not feeling 100% but so glad to get this behind me.  We both agreed that this wouldn’t deter us on taking another road trip to Salt Lake City area…in fact, we will be looking forward to attending this event again next year!

It was my intention to document our trip (Bud & I left for Provo, Utah on Monday to attend a QuicKutz VIP store event) each day so that you all would be able to enjoy the trip as much as we did. Wellllll…..it hasn’t exactly gone the way we had hoped. Read on.

You never know who will show up!  I got a very excited call from our Miss Vicki yesterday afternoon about an hour after I left the shop (of course) and she was beside herself because she had just waited on Ali Edwards!  She was recanting their conversation and I could hear Karen’s excited voice in the background filling in the pieces that Vicki left out (or hadn’t got to yet!).  Of course, I am thinking, sure…right after I leave!  It was a quiet day yesterday and Bud was going to bar-b-q some steaks so I thought I would duck out early.  I mean, really.  I am here, what, 6 days a week (at least) for the last 3 years, 7 months and 7 days and Ali Edwards shows up on the day I left 1 ½ hours early!  There is no justice in the world!

Ok, maybe I am not saying that you need to hang here 7 days a week, 10 hours a day (on average).  But…then again, you never know who will wander by if you leave!

May has been a month of change for me.  Not all bad but sometimes when you have to absorb a number of changes all at once, it can be over-whelming a more than a little sad.  I think most of you know that I recently lost two employees.  One was our beloved Joan.  Joan has worked in the store since a month after Cheryl opened The Memory Shelf.  I know very few people who know and understand this industry better than Joan.  Not to mention that she is truly one of the funniest people I have ever met!  I so enjoy her silly and sometimes sarcastic type of humor!  She is truly missed around here.

Did I mention that we are STILL remodeling our new house?  Let me put this in perspective for you, we purchased the house Sept, 05. But, finally, our previous house has sold after being on (and off) the market for almost 9 months.  Whew!

Oh and my 20-year old son is back living with us, sort of?  Comes with a few challenges although I have to admit, I really love having him near me.  Not ready to cut those strings yet with my baby.

Also, my best friend is continuing to work in Southern California and traveling back and forth.  A lot of you can probably relate that when you are having a lot of changes that it helps to have your friend(s) close by for support.  I am having more than a little separation anxiety in missing my dear friend Rene every few weeks!

So, what happens when you are sad?  You go to your happy place!  I have not forgotten how truly I am blessed to be a part of this industry that brings so much joy and happiness (you should see this place when the new stuff arrives!) to so many.  I love sharing stories, not just about the pictures and layouts, but on lifes happenings so I can be assured that I am not here all alone but have much in common with many of you! Thank you for letting me be a (small but not insignificant) part of your world.

Ok.  So I doubt many of you will find some of this stuff interesting but I am still trying to figure out how to connect with my blog.  I have been looking at other blogs and the surprising thing is that many of them provide very personal information.  That is difficult for me especially since my blog is attached to my business website.  I have been telling Bud and Katina for some time not to talk about personal stuff at the store or on our newsletter, etc.  Mostly because I don’t want to bore everyone!  But of course there are other reasons.  To grow as a person, you may need to adjust your way of thinking, right? 

And sometimes, things hit you so hard that you just need to share it.

Have any of you been watching Oprah?  Did you catch the episodes on The Secret?  Wow!  I have saved the episodes and plan to watch them again.  I picked up the book at Costco the same day I saw the preview on an Oprah commercial.  I ordered the DVD and can’t wait to watch it.   It’s funny, I totally understand what Oprah said.  Much of The Secret is really not a secret but something I knew intuitively but wow, isn’t it great to see it spelled out so eloquently and excitingly?  Of course, for me, my best friend has already told me this stuff so I feel that I am ahead of the game, right?

I have to tell you, I have thought about this a lot and keep trying to figure out a way to incorporate these ideas and well, the recipe of the Laws of Attraction,  into scrapbooking.  I am forming some ideas so don’t be surprised if you see something hanging around the store! 

But there is one thing that I will start to incorporate into my life everyday, not just when the mood strikes.  Being grateful and thankful for the people and things in my life. I am truly grateful for:

My Family, my wonderful supportive husband and my awesome kids who I know have my back.

My business, that has brought so many wonderful people into my life and the opportunity to do things I only dreamed about.

My friends, for whom I am very thankful for your love and support.  You Rock and you know who you are!!!

There is so much more.  I am making it my new New Years Resolution to be thankful every day!!!