My Weblog

David's Second Post.

OK, first of all Denise is sorry to report that she has to cancel the Indianapolis Junior League show.   The canellation is updated on her website.  She knows that this will disappoint a large number of Indy customers, but with Halloween, her trip to Peru, and especially the magnitude of the current trunk show operation, there was just no way for her to physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually make it happen.  Please don't be too mad at her.  It will stress her out knowing that you are mad and I'm the one that has to live with her!

Second, there have been lots of requests for a second math problem on the blog.  So here it is.  No free clothing this time....just the good feeling inside if you are able to get it.  NOTE: it's more of a "logic" problem, than "math".

Suppose you are a prisoner in a cell.  There are two doors in the cell.  One door leads to freedom, the other leads to immediate death.  You must choose a door and walk through it.  To help you choose, there are two other prisoners in the cell with you.  Both of these prisoners know which door is which.  However, one of the prisoners always tells the truth and the other prisoner always lies.  Unfortunatey, you don't know which prisoner is which.  You are allowed to ask one of the prisoners any question you'd like.  What question could you ask one of the prisoners in order to determine which door is which?  Explain your answer.

Today I decided I should have a new outlook on things.  Smiles are Free.  I focus way too  much on the negative.  We get so many wonderful customers calling in and I always focus on the one who complains. And I focus ALL week, on that one.

And the fantastic Amanda

I had 4 Enormous boxes I had to Next Day at USPS and I could barely make it into the post office and a sweet elderly lady followed me through both doors and opened them. Yup, Smiles are Free. And the always nice UPS man made a special trip to get the remainder of our boxes so we could get out the door.  Why is the UPS man ALWAS nice?

Our workshop is so small, a mere 1200sq feet. Yes, a bit crammed with 4 cute ladies working and 20+ boxes for UPS and well over 100 bags for USPS, not to mention all the inventory and my fat *%@.  But Chris had us laughing so hard we almost peed our pants, so maybe I lost a few inches in the calorie burning laugh attack. I said maybe.

The UPS man brought me at least 15 large boxes  that would have never fit through our door.  Luckily, Fabine saved the day and let us use the room across the hall for storage.

The lovey Amelia

See, lots of nice things. When I left McD's this morning, impatiently waiting to pull out a kind lad stopped and let me pull out so I didn't have to wait for 5 million cars. And best of all, if you look at the Menu board, it reads, SMILE ARE FREE. No joke, right above the beverages. I almost think they put it there just for me.

Enough of the chipper Denise. Let;s get down to business.  I know a lot of you are impatiently waiting for your orders.  We are trying so hard.  It is coming down to a few main things, 1. some of the fabric is on backorder, so I in turn have to backorder a few of your pieces, 2. we have nearly tripled last season, I fore-casted double, wrong again, and 3. Production, we can only sew so fast. Once I get the pieces we have to trim it all and then iron it all.  4. The darn copier needs a new drum and the office store promised it would be here today, guess what it's not.  So excuse the grayness of your receipt. 

Seriously, we are VERY small, you would be amazed.  A lot of the pieces I cut my self ( Gretta, April, Flora, Aprons, and a few more) . I then drive the cut pieces over to ladies'  homes and they sew at night after they put in a days work at their other job.

The lovey Amelia

I, by no means am asking for a pity party. I always wondered about the early stages of companies. They look huge to the world and when you see the guts of them they really are not.  I wonder if companies I look up to, went through the same growing pains as I am now. I just always hear the beautiful side of things,  so if you ever want the truth, I'll tell you. It is extremely difficult to run MJC. It is growing at a pace that scares me. I love it to death but I know I can only handle so much myself. We have some great gals and I just need to learn to delegate and let go. 

Okay, I'll shut up. It's almost Laker Hockey time and I about freaked when I heard from 2 of you that you were, or knew other fans. I'll give you the full run down when I get back. I'm just hoping we have time to stop and buy new shoes on the way up. 5+ hours with the BEAST who hates the car, ahhh... fun. A little rum in that Dt Coke may work. Yes, for me!
 

I've got the floor all swept, the chairs put up and ready to mop ( this is the best darn mop) so why am I so glued to the darn computer.  I think have a serious addiction problem.  And that is why I complain all the time about working so much.  If I spent less time on this darn thing and was more "efficient" maybe I could be the one to grocery shop.  But David did get me some Mop N Glow, I wanted the bald head guy stuff but this will do. 

I decided today I am not really a designer, I am the packing queen. I will reserve the title Master Packer for Chris. We have been rockin' those orders out of there. For one moment I almost felt a sense of relief, till I glanced back you and realized it was October 22 and we are just starting to work on Oct 4th orders. YIKES

So why is it the , I'm not sure the words, the big fish, the cool kats with great companies never tell you how to handle all this craziness.  Did they screw orders up like we do? the first time I screwed an order up I almost puked. I was so upset, David says" Ahh, get used to it when you pack 100+ orders a day you will make mistakes. I wonder if he has a calculation for that?

I also wonder why the Beast will not stop screamin?

Most of you guys seem to have jobs similar to mine, so you think they all had issues? Seriously, I spend 1/2 my day packing, the other 1/2 answering the phone, running credit cards and cutting fabric.   And when I answer that darn phone, that is the worst. I am not a good one to call, I chat way too much about nothing.  I had a lady near speechless today.  I talk so fast and randomly that she must of thought I was nuts.

Guess what, my next post will be my 100th. Whoo Hoo. Maybe I can talk Chris into making me a cake? Or maybe just buying me one?

I got the funniest email a while ago, Sara says  "my daughter wore MJC for her birthday, and she wore it for her first day of school and well, she actually wear it for everything." Ya, right I thought. So I go to her blog and she was right.  I am such a doubter.  Look, she really does wear it.  And Sara I had no clue you were a Michigander?

 

Before I sign off, I'm getting a new website. I can hardly stand it.  I love mine but I think I need to spiff up a bit so I can play with the big guys, or well, so I can try.

Off to hang out woth the bald guys imposter. LAKER HOCKEY starts this weekend. I am so excited, I am sick of talking about MJC's all the time, almost as much as you are of me talking about myself.

And look here, a brother and sister team that actaully gets along.  It would be a riot to do a shoot with them, eh?

I totally forgot to post I will not be in Kansas City this weekend.  I put it on my site but forgot to blog it up. YIKES. We had to cancel  simply because we have nothing to sell. All we've been sewing up is Trunk Show goods.  I was so excited to go, I had never been there plus I really wanted to remodel my bath and that was the funding for it.  Looks like it will be another month or so before I shower. JK

Thanks for all the great pics you all send my way.  I'm trying to get them up but you know how the story goes. Oh, I think i get to go to Peru the beginning of Nov.  I've never been out of this country, should I be scared? I need a travel friend.

I must sign off, the beast is seriously making toast. Whew, is he advanced or what?

When David called me form work to say "Look at the blog!".  I pulled it up and was like "Whoa".  Poor Albert scared me to death.  Holy cow, he's a frightening old fellow.

And David also told me, it is not very fun to write blogs.  Love him. I really thought you may enjoy his side of MJC.  He does so much work for us it is nuts, eveything form load the trailer, pay taxes, call on insurance and pay my credit card bills.

Okay, now truthfully, I was just tricking you guys for a quick ego boost. Thanks for all the great comments.  I'd get a grouchy phone call,  and a nice comment to balance it out.

But I do know by Monday all of September shows will have shipped and I can hardly wait.  I cannot handle the delay.  When I order something I want it the next day. I get so excited. I hate no being able to offer that.  You have no clue, I'm a compulsive dweller ( and eater)  OHH.. speaking of, our postman asked us if we were Amish the other day and he was serious. I about died laughing.

We just got a new gal at the office.  Oh, she is so fabulous. You may just want to call to see how sweet she is.  No clue how she got that way, hopefully it'll rub off on me soon.  But she is shaping us up.  We are pretty organized but with the way things have been growing we needed that "Perfect Gal" to step in and kick it up a notch.

We even had our first conference call the other night with all the Trunk Keepers.  It was so surreal, MJC is really becoming more than mine and Chris's art fair gig.  David said it is no different than his Fantasy Football drafting call. Oh, he has no clue how cool I really am.

Lastly, the poor beasts cracker has broken.  You would've thought it was the end of the world.  He was so upset, he had to go to my neighbor ( his babysitters) early because I just about lost my mind.

And the fabulous Shannon at work: 

Ginger is our winner!

Congratulations Ginger.  My students love this problem.  After a few tries, they usually get it.  8000000010 is the most common wrong answer.  So is 9000000000.    But the ONLY correct answer is 6210001000.

Ginger, what size is your girl?

My First Post

So, I guess I'm now in charge of the blog.  Well, devoted Matilda Jane followers, consider yourselves lucky.  No more typos.  No more meaningless ramblings.  No more cute little pictures of girls wearing MJC.   Tune into this blog to get important updates on college hockey, Star Wars, weight-lifting, and even an occasional math lesson or two. 

More to come....but first, a math brain teaser.  The first person to send in a correct solution will win one free MJC item (hopefully Denise is ok with this) of my choice.  You get to pick the size.

PROBLEM:  Write down a 10-digit number so that the following holds true:  The first digit in your number must represent the number of "zeros" in your number.  The second digit in your number must represent the number of "ones" in your number.  The third digit in your number must represent the number of "twos" in your number....and so on.....The last digit in your number must represent the number of "nines" in your number.  Please submit your entries by posting a comment.

____  ____  ____  ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____
   0         1          2           3        4        5         6        7         8         9

I read an article the other day that said, "when blogging you should blog about something of interest, something meaningful, etc....."  Because I am I, I start to doubt myself and think, "Yup, I should really start blogging something of interest, something educational. So, I have decided to turn he blog over to David. He is super smart and an amazing teacher. Be sure to check back often for great math tips to help you figure out yardage and profit margins!

Before I pass the torch over, I have to tell you about the beast. MG, we go out to eat. Huge mistake, ketchup all over my super cute skirt, water all over David's shorts, salt poured in my prized Dt Coke, forks whipped at neighboring diners and the piercing sound of the scream.  YIKES. Juts when I cannot take it anymore, Kathy shows up and he acts normal. HELP ME.

I'm not quite sure what is up with him. It has been at least 3 nights that he has fallen asleep with his cracker ( yes, one cracker and the same cracker) tucked in with him. He wakes up with it in the morning and covers it up along side him at night? What is going on?

Have I told you lately that I love Leah, check her out. If you live in Indiana or nearby she is surely worth the trip.  I havenot personally met her and she was sweet enough to help us out in a bind.  Had she known me, it may have been different. Yes, I am nice sometimes, just stressed a bit.

So what would you like to be educated on? The fun of sourcing overseas? I swear I spent about 900 bucks sending everything Global Express, only to have it still caught up in customs and it has been well over 2 weeks. Nice 4-5 day delivery, eh? I am working on Spring 07 and Fall 08 and trying to catch up with Fall 07.  I knew we would increase our sales from the past season but not a full double. OUCH.  I am not even sure how one predicts this, nor pays for it.  It is just David and I financing this gig and I know Spring will only increase and OMG imagine the fabric bills. No, you do not want to. I guess he may have to sell his Star Wars collection so I can make you come cute clothes.

Tell me what you would like me to educate you on, seeing that is what the famous author says I should do to keep you coming back for more. Hmm... my friend has a great site... catchingfireflies.com We started out doing art shows together ions ago. She's a superstar now, I am just a little fly in her shadow. But I am cute.

I tell Joe everyday, you don't have to be funny, or smart or the fastest, you just have to be nice to everyone. That is all that matters.  And that I am, (well, usually)

Okay, be sure to leave some comments for David on his forst post tomorrow!!

Oh where, oh where has my little doggy been? And that would be me, the lost pup.  I really won't bore you with al the fun details of nothing.  I just wanted to drop a quick line to say, I'll be back full force next week. I'm tryting to catch up on life.

I must say thank you to the lovely Kellie H.  I LOVEYOU, well, Joe loves you. I get a zillion boxes (of work stuff) in the mail and he never gets jack, well, except from Mimi and Papa.  He was beyond thrilled. You are a doll and I was astounded that you would even think to do such a thing.  I love you, you made my day.

I have one more Lucky Me to send out, I forgot to stamp it so it was returned to me. Not surprised, I seem to be doing that too  much lately. Focus, Denise, Focus.

Here is quick glance into my week.  You'll see it is quite boring, the usual work, Joe won't take off the Power Ranger costume, Gabe has learned to climb on everything and David finally got rid of the mini-van so he can now look cool.  Poor guy, I drove the truck and he's stuck with the minature van. Today was his lucky day and he got a new truck.  And I got a new painting.

See, for those of you who may have thought I was cool I'm not. PLus, I suck at picture taking. That's why I can only post when people send me pictures. YIKES and that I need to update soon.

Oh, and to the sweetest gal in Fort Wayne, Rebecca, I owe you a huge thank you note. I love you.  I'm just not sure how someone can be as nice as you, for that matter, as nice as your entire family and friends?

See, I am behind in life and need to catch up, off to do so!

I am so ticked, I just wrote this long winded post and it deleted.

So you'll have to wait till tomorrow or else you will just have to listen to be complain. Why is it that everything is fine and one little screw up blows it.

We are in Louisville, KY for an art fair.  And how appropriate that Kianna sent me a picture of one of my first pieces. I loved that dress. Kianna and I actually have the matching adult skirt. Yup, I am wearing it tomorrow.

Unitl then...