In Sympathy

I have a customer that came in today. While we were talking I decided to ask her about something I have been wanting to talk about for along time. Her son passed away about a year and a half ago and I wanted to know how she was doing but didn't feel comfortable about asking. Finally I just went ahead and said that I wanted to ask her something personal and that if she didn't want to talk about it, that would be okay. I asked her how long it had been since her son had passed and how she was doing. I can't tell you how much she appreciated my asking. She said that people don't ever talk about it with her because they are uncomfortable.

I told her I understood what she meant since when my father died 16 years ago, I went through the same thing. It is a crazy misconception we have that we don't want to discuss the topic of death in fear of upsetting the person dealing with it. But on the contrary the very lack of conversation makes the person feel alienated and lonely. She said she can hardly bear the loss of her son and that it hasn't gotten any easier. It really struck me what a burden she is carrying. And that even though we have all gone on with our lives, she is still dealing with this everyday.

So, all this to say that if you know someone who has experienced the death of someone close, ask them how they are doing. It doesn't matter if it has been one month, one year or more. You will know if they don't want to talk about it, but usually it makes them feel better to have their grief acknowledged. We need our friends and family in times of crisis and sometimes it takes a long time to grieve.

If you don't want to bring it up in person, send them a card to let them know you are still thinking of them. I love these hand made cards (shown above) because they feel like I am sending something special. However, sometimes I struggle with what to say since they are blank inside. That's when I cheat a little and copy a sentiment from a greeted card and write it in the blank one along with my own sentiments. It really doesn't matter what you say... it's the thought that counts!

-M.

(Dorie's French Bulldog Wallace) (or beautiful lovely is his other name)

(Michele's dachshund Dallas)

My sister, Dorie, is obsessed with her dog. Come to think of it my sister, Michele, is also obsessed with her dog! I guess that happens when you have a full bred dog. Suddenly you want to buy everything that has an image of your breed of dog. Between the two of them they have collected greeting cards, keychains, stationery or whatever they can find!

On the other hand my wonderful dog, Buddy, that I sadly had to put down a year ago was just a plain old mutt! But he sure was healthy and strong and lived 16 great years!

Since my sisters are forever sending me pictures of their dogs, I thought I would post some for all of you to enjoy as well!

-M.

Truly Mom

These are just some of the wonderful invitations that Truly Mom offers. We carry their album in the store for you to view and order from. Truly Mom is running a special starting now thru the end of March. Get 5 of their invitations for free with the purchase of 25 qty minimum! They are also waiving their $25 set up fee thru the end of March. This whole offer can save you around $50! Yay! We love savings right now!

-M.

Woops! Blog much! Yes, I’ve been shirking my duties to blogland, but trust me it isn’t from lack of things to do! I have been a very busy bee. In January we completely re did the store transitioning from Christmas to Valentines. This is not something I look forward to with all the inventory counting and packing up. Of course it’s always fun to get the new goodies out, so atleast that made me happy!

Bob and I hosted a Super Bowl party during which me and my sisters decided to completely redesign my Living/Dining room. Of course that just opened up a whole new list of house projects that I wanted to complete and that Bob and I are currently slaves to. We decided to paint all of the doors, baseboards and trim in our entire house! This entails sanding every single surface of wood, wiping it down and then painting. (Our neighbors are used to our crazy project undertakings) But with all of the birthdays every weekend, (did I mention that there are 8 birthdays in my family in January and 7 birthdays in February!?), we are finding it difficult to finish our project. I have been living without a single door on the inside of the house for a month! Let me tell you, it is a little strange to go to the bathroom with no privacy! Thankfully our hardware came in yesterday so we have several of the doors up and functioning. The bathroom door was the first up.

In the midst of the incessant dusting caused by sanding we managed to have a wonderful and romantic Valentine’s day and dinner. Happy to have a night at home to ourselves, Bob whipped up a delicious dinner and we ate in the tv room. I set the coffee table with flowers, candles and beatiful dishes. And the best part is that we rented a bunch of 80’s movies and had a movie-thon. Hello Saint Elmos Fire! (This was perfect timing since we were going to my friend’s 40th bday party the following weekend and it was an 80’s theme) Boy I miss those good ol’ days!

This morning I met my sister and friends for her birthday breakfast. That wraps up the last of the birthdays for February. Yay! And that brings me up to date.

There are a lot of great things going on in the store that I will be posting this next week.

Thanks for hanging in with me,

-M.

(Dinner and dessert for Bob's birthday)

(Valentine's Dinner - my niece made the centerpieces!)

(Stationery I ordered for my sister Dorie for her birthday)

Lulu Calendars!

Yay! The LuLu calendars are in the store and ready for you to pick up. We have carried Lulu products for 8 years now and I never tire of Anne Keenan Higgins' whimsical designs. Apparently neither do any of you! I had forgotten to order these calendars in and was reminded by several customers. So thank you!

-M.

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great time ringing in the new year. Bob and I had a blast! We spent the evening with my sister and her husband who spent the night at our house. We started the festivities with a delicious dinner at House of Tricks in Tempe, rode the light rail (I loved it! It felt so hip and urban for Arizona!), and then came home to play cards. However, we had way too much energy to sit still so instead we decided to tee-pee my brother’s house! (he lives across the street) We knew they were at home with the kids and some of our other friends, so we decked ourselves out in our best stealthing duds and headed over to do our toilet paper best.

As luck would have it, they came out when we had only just started and we had to run and hide in the neighbor’s bushes. (how old are we?) I swear my sister and I were laughing so hard! Of course they knew who the culprits were and they went back inside to plan their revenge attack. To further our bad luck, we didn’t know that another neighborhood family was also over there, so all together they had 8 kids jonesing to slaughter our house! Not good!

Fortunately Bob and I do not give up so easily so we hid on the opposite sides of our house and when the kids came I had the front house and Bob had the back and we sprayed the heck out of the kids! It was a hoot! Don’t mind the fact that it was now midnight and freezing outside and the kids’ feet were turning blue! But atleast it was a night they would never forget.

I have to say that we were outnumbered and my ambush plan of the water backfired since the kids were only too happy to be doused. So admitting defeat we went inside and left them to do their worst. And believe me they did! Our house looked hysterical in the morning!

Thankfully the kids came back in the morning to help clean up. Afterwards I raked up a huge pile of leaves from our yard and the neighborhood kids played in it for hours! If you want some free entertainment for your kids, offer to rake some leaves for your neighbors and let the kids have at it!

-M.

This Christmas season was one of the best I have had. We did so many fun things and spent a lot of time with family and friends. Our Christmas party was a blast! We have found that the best night to have our party is the Saturday before Christmas. At that point there is never any conflicts with work parties, everyone is done shopping and ready to relax!

We never count, but I know there was at least 50 people at the party. And, even though I did a much better job of photo taking this year, I still did not do well enough! The pictures do not show how many people were there, how great the food looked, and how many people rocked the karaoke!

You can always find a reason to have a party. Especially with the New Year here! Pick a date, choose some friends, buy some invitations, (at M & Co.) and get a party going! Make it a tradition!

Here are a few party tips that we have learned to help you on your way:

1. Choose a date that does not conflict with any major holiday or sporting event
2. Plan your menu far in advance! We usually have our menu planned by October at the latest. That’s a little crazy, but we love food.
3. When choosing a menu, think of things that can be made in advance. You don’t want to be cooking when guests show up!
4. The week of the party we get our grocery list written up. Since our list is always pages long, and we can’t get everything from one store, I type up our list on the computer, noting the grocery store I can find it at, and sort my data! Voila! I have a very organized list to go from!
5. Make a schedule. I also make a list on the computer of everything that we need to accomplish the week of the party and sort it by the day we need to do it. Trust me on this, it works!
6. Hire someone or enlist a friend to help you with the hosting duties that night. I learned this the hard way when one year my sister whispered in my ear that we were out of toilet paper in one of the bathrooms! Hello, I was doing 20 million things! I never thought of toilet paper! (now I stack multiple rolls on top of the toilet so everyone knows just where it is)

I can go on and on, but these are a few that came to my mind just now. Of course I am already thinking of Valentines Day and wanting to have another party! Good thing my husband loves entertaining as much as I do!

-M.

(My Family)