My Weblog

Summer time

Please tell me it is not almost the end of summer?? I so feel like it is. It has been a mad dash to get everything ready for next season, and getting ready for Plymouth. Oh, and by the way, it is Plymouth, Michigan not Indiana. So I am letting David work the blog for a bit. He loves it and is pretty good at it. It is fun to show off the "smart" side of MJC.

We just got the total in for the donation to  Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep, it was a whopping $1650.00. It surely doubles the $800 I thought we would raise. You guys are amazing. Thanks.

Sorry for the quick post, I am sure there are a ton of things I should be saying but there's still  more flowers to be sewn. The funny thing is, I thrive in the heat of things. It really is when I do my best thinking. I was at the office cutting yesterday and I am telling you, when it is quiet and I am alone, I am pretty darn brilliant!!! Well, okay, kinda, a little bit.

And here's another great photo of summer time love. OOOHHH, I so love that song , wait, I need to think of it. It talks about no internet, shores of Lake Michigan, Sweet Home Alabama. Man, do you remember those days? No cells phones, no internet? I remember waiting with my hand ready to pounce on the "record" button of my tape player to record "Joyride by Roxette" the moment they played it on the radio. I kinda miss that slowness.

Thank you to Jadie for the great pics and  memories. If this could be me and my friends when I was younger, it would be the beautiful Andy Fisher on the left....she was always stunning and the boys loved her.She knew everycolor of lipstick and eyeshadow.  Me in the middle, I was always taller, though this sweet girl is much prettier than I was. And then Liza on the right.  If I ever wanted to be someone, it was Liza. She just has this way about her. She is gorgeuos without knowing it, a true old soul and works harder than anyone I know. ( I actually tell Kayla she reminds me of a young Liza)

Sound Asleep...

Well, guess what?  Denise is sound asleep, gearing up for the big "Season Finale" sale that begins Friday, June 27th at 9:00 am, so I thought I better blog about the sale for her.  She kept telling me all week long that "there is no reason to blog about the sale because everyone already knows", but I wasn't so sure.  If she's right, and you already know, then I guess I underestimate the rate at which Matilda Jane info spreads across the internet....

So here is what you should know in case you haven't heard...

The sale starts tomorrow, Friday at 9:00 am, and is basically a sale to clear out as much of our Spring 08 inventory as we can.  All you need to do is simply call or email your Matilda Jane Trunk Keeper to order and they will be happy to help you.  All of the Trunk Keepers will be using our new ordering system for the first time.   They will be able to get live inventory levels for you (but not prior to Fri at 9:00am).  Please keep in mind, however, that even if an item appears to be available, it may be sold out by the time your Trunk Keeper submits your order (this could happen if multiple trunk keepers are simultaneously placing an order for the same item).  So, like always, we can't give you a 100% guarantee that you'll get the item.  Even if you happen to be one of the "psychic ones" and already knew about the sale and contacted your Trunk Keeper, we still cannot guarantee things will be in-stock (mainly because your Trunk Keeper won't even find out what is available until 9:00 am on Friday...well probably around 8:55 am).   But, the good news is: all of the items we have left from Spring 2008 are 50% off! 

So, were there any pieces that you really wanted to get during the season but held back due to the fact that you already spent too much?  Well, now is your chance to get it at 50% off, and at the same time help your Trunk Keeper boost their end of the season sales figures. 

While the sale starts Friday, June 27th at 9:00 am, it will continue until the end of July.  However, by the end of this weekend there may not be much left. 

So, call your Trunk Keeper early to place your order.  There is lots of Matilda Jane to choose from (and even the Mighty Acorn Overall's are on sale)!  OK, now I guess it's time to post a picture....let me see if I can find one....Here's one. 

Take care,

David

Well, they are all done. Every single order packed. And let me tell you (sigh) it is a wonderful sight to have my cutting table back full force.  We did have some sold outs but I guess that comes with the territory. I have decided to stop stressing over that. I used to let it eat me up, but ahh.. I am learning to let go.

So hey, I am a little sad. I cannot remember who but I do love you for offering to buy up the Beast.  David says it is illegal so we'll have to keep him, or at least till we get fair market value. Why am I sad, well, dissappointed maybe be a better word. Ya, and a better word I cannot spell??

For those of you with more than one kid, you know how that goes, everyone loves the baby and the poor older one, no one cares about. Okay, some do. Everyone does comment on Joe's HUGE smile. Ask anyone, they will tell you.  He walks in the rooms and his smile jsut lights up the place. And I am not just saying that cuz he is mine. He really does sparkle!! (Ha, that is what we say about you, Melanie H., you are a true sparkler)  But no one even asked for him.

Wait... Leah, Stephanie and the Band girls, is that what the cookies were for? I just connected the dots, he was up for trades?? If you are smart you will say yes, cuz Joe is feeling a bit left out. 

I know this makes no sense, but I just need to get it off my chest. Yes, I still am being a bit...well, we will say cranky.

It is so fun to look at these old pics.

So on a completely different note. And if you think I am hard to follow, you should talk to my brother Doug. When I saw him this weekend, David says to me, "Wow, you guys are really a lot alike".

Last week sometime, I was taking out the garbage at work. There is an older lady that lives in the building and we see her often. She is usually talking about her doll collection or waiting for the bus.  I noticed she was moving a bunch of stuff. Confused, I asked her what she was doing. She caught me by surprise when she said she was moving. I had no clue where she would go? Ya, I was  little worried about her and maybe even sad. For even if I sometimes got fustrated listening about the dolls and what not, she was a kind lady.

I asked her where she was going, she just said moving. I asked her if she was happy and she said "Yes. I could live above the fanciest store or in the tiniest of places and I would be happy.  I am happy. Where I live has nothing to do with it?".

I was awe struck. How wonderful is that? And how on earth did she get to be like that? I so admire people have found an inner peace, people who know how to be happy with themselves and not what they have. It is simply amazing.

Put a Lid on it

I almost walked out the door without saying " Good Morning". Like that would be a first!! Well, I guess you gotta start somewhere, plus I am gonna try to be nice today. The boys are all still sleeping and I am off to cut fabric. It is such a mind thing that if I do not get in early it'll take all day. But man, it is addicting.

And the good news is all the Art Fair Goods will have gone out as 3:00 today. Whew. My gosh, Kayla and I were talking about it. It sounded so easy, so simple, easier than doing an actual art fair. Ha, guess again.  But it was good, and you guys got some pretty cool stuff. But next time, I need to find an easier way....okay I should not have said that. And I am not being rude, but no need to send me 30 emails on the "easier say."  I always laugh when I get these emails, yes, some of them have great insight that I do appreciate. I really need to shut up. I was gonna be nice today. I'll put that under "Honesty is the Best Policy".

Speaking of funny emails. I got the funniest email and you know who you are. I am still cracking up. I'll share later.

David is still working on the program. My gosh, what I thought would be X amount is now turning into XX amount. Yup, just put Lynette and David in the same equation and you get great ideas that always cost lots of money.  On their way back, David called form his car and says "Tell Lynette to put a lid on it, that girl is good at asking for the impossible". Ahh... that is why we love her. She totally looks at things form all angles.. Me, I just jump in and figure it out. That is why we have the Almighty One. Love her. Plus, she gets my sarcasm and can dish it right back.

This is getting long when all I really wanted to say was out phones will be down part of the day so please call your Trunk Keeper and they can help you out. We are working on a few things and may not be able to retrieve messages so really, please call your Trunk Keeper if you need help right away. We'll be good to go tomorrow (hopefully).

And with that, I am off to work. And thanks to the sweet gal at Whippoorwill for the fun pic. Don'y you so wish you were young again? I am just not sure why it is that when Chris and I sit on the porch, me in the Knot and Chris in the Betsy, we never look this cute?

Simple Stuff

Did you know this is one of my favorite dresses. It is so darn sweet and simple and so not anyone else's favorite. For real. I am always drawn to the underdogs. So when the super cool Jessica Grieves sent me this photo, I freaked. Ahh and guess what, this is Christina's daughter, our TK in Texas.

This is another short post. I am crazily busily and highly irritable lately. This simply means I need to clear off some of my turkey dinner off my plate so I can think straight again.

Until then, I know plenty of you are confused as to why you have not been charged yet. It is a minor glitch we found, see here Download a_little_bit_confusing.doc . Check out the document and it will explain it all. But no worries, it is really something very simple, just a lot of extra work on our end.

Okay girlees I am off to print a bunch of junk, sew some tanks, replay to emails (sorry, I am pretty behind on these) and then maybe, just  maybe I will do the dishes. But then again, maybe David will beat me to that one!!

I opened this pic up and all I could think of is the Beast. Is that odd? But I really think they look like they could be his sisters. Am I losing my mind? Dumb question, that happened years ago. Ahh, thanks Chanel for sharing them with me.

Yup, and that is all I have to say tonite. FOR REAL, too much work.

Much about Nothing

Okay, quick post just so you don't go into withdrawls, or should I say I do not. David is saying "are you still blogging?" I say "5 more minutes" , he says " I'll go lift weights for 5 minutes"

Nice, he gets in shape and my butt gets wider by the minute from sitting on this stool. You do know, I really think that does happen. Don't they say if you are on your feet all day, they widen? So your butt must also?

Look who has been coming to work with me. Joe is the new Employee of the Month. Yupe, we fit all the desks in a little 10x10 area. Have to keep costs down, you know!! Plus we are all cuddle bugs. What you don;t see is the 2 puppies sleeping under the desk. For real

and what about this?

While Chris makes awesome drinks, this is Jeff playing with my camera.  A few moments later, I dropped and broke it. And 2 days later he  and Kayla went out and bought one for themselves. No, not a drink, a camera.

Then we have the Beast playing with the lens cap I no longer need.  Told you this was a post about nothing.  OMG, Jen, I have not sent you an email yet, I am tonite, but you made my boys the best bags. Gabe now sleeps with his "backpack". He takes it everywhere and complains it is too heavey, hmm....if he didn;t have so many flipping happy meal toys we'd be okay.

David is now doing push ups off the coffee table and my butt is about .5 inches wider. Now he says sorry he does not have time to proof the blogs.  Whatever.

And lastly cuz I know this will bring a huge smile to Dawn's face and plus how cute are these little chickens?

Now I am off to watch a movie.  Art Fair orders have started going out. I need to do a full post on that tomorrow so you have the lowdown, plus we rocked in raking in the money for the Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep Charity. You guys are way to kind and generous and David needs to STOP doing push ups. I am feeling guilty and fat.

I am not sure if I like Leah or those shoes more? Okay, so Leah wins, afterall, she did capture this shot.

Sitting here with my head between my knees, I am half emberassed to say I sent out my first bunch of "generic" emails. I hated doing it, but I had so many, you have no clue how many, requests for more art fair stuff. To be completely honest, yes, I would love to sell it all and help everyone. But in reality, I can't. I have no time to go through one by one and see what is left. But most of all, it would not be fair for there is no possible way I could help everyone and the girls at the office have this season to deal with and ya, next season is coming full swing.

Thank you all for such a great weekend. I am so glad that you loved it all, some of those dresses are pretty darn cute. And even more exciting, I can hardly wait to meet some of you in Plymouth, MI in July. It is such a fun art fair. Remember, it is hot and we set up on a street, in a tent, therefore our feet our filthy and we all smell like "tent". Not a good first impression tool.

And best of all, well, worst of all, I dropped my camera this weekend while I was laughing way too hard at Chris, I broke my lens. Luckily it was the cheap one, but even better, I ordered a new one, well, 2 new one. Yup, a good weekends sales always equals a new lens.

Oh, and I forgot to add, David could hardly believe the phones ringing. He knows what it is like to work art fairs and yup, he even worked the phone for a bit. Who would have ever guessed I would have 4 lines ringing non-stop for 5 hours to buy MJC. It is all so surreal, so cool and so scary.  Purely amazing and thank you for that.

Phone Numbers

Almost forgot....here are the Phone Numbers for the big Saturday sale.  Remember, the hours are from 10 am to 3 pm Eastern. 

260.745.1607 (the normal office number)

260.745.1609 (usually our fax line, but converted to phone for Satuday's Sale)

260.460.7584

260.460.7620

The last two numbers will only be valid for Saturday's sale.  If you need to call us after Saturday, please use our normal office number.

Just like last time, if you can't get through, keep trying.  You may leave a message, but we will not be able to call you back until Monday at the earliest.  If you can have your item numbers ready and your credit card number ready, it should help speed things up.  Our new ordering program is working a bit better than last month, but there are still some issues.  So please be patient with us as we are doing the best we can.

Talk to you Saturday!

Art Fair Goods

Yes, I feel like I am getting ready for an art fair. And if you know me well, you know you do not want to be anywhere near me. I get extremely stressed and quite grouchy. David keeps telling me, "These are just little bugs, little bugs that need to be fixed". Problem is, I am losing my patience and I really don't like any type of bugs.

I got the Look Books up. The first (Art Fair Goods ALL) one is huge and hard to look through. I split them up, Adult, size 8-10, size 2-6. For babies and accessories look in ALL. Does that make sense? Hope so. Man, why aren't my cute pics showing up in the side bar?????

This is an oldie but goodie. Oh, how I loved Lulu.

Anyways, about Art Fair Goods. You should know that the qty's are very limited. Some things we only made 4 or 5 of. So please do not be upset, you have a huge variety to choose from. Also, on Art Fair Goods, trims and  such may vary. All Art Fair Goods are sold "As IS" are not no-refundable.

I know you are dying for me to post all 4 phone numbers, but last time I did, the phone rang non-stop the entire day prior. Therefore, I will wait till tomorrow to post the numbers. This is also why I posted the catalog late. You have no clue how many people tried to order the day before the sale last time.  I think I heard every excuse in the book. And yes, I fully admit, I am a pleaser and I fell for some of them and it got me into hot water. This time I am playing it safe.

I am on David's computer and it has all these old, old photo's. This is actually one of my very first dresses. Okay, enough about that.
I must go help David do some real work.

One more thing, the Look Book may state a size and when you call, well, it may be sold out. We will not be updating the Look Book often. Maybe, once or 2x. Afterall, we have a phone to work....actually 4 phones.

Lastly, I cannot take orders via email nor will I be checking my email tomorrow or Saturday. I will get back with you on Monday. Just wanted to let you know so you do not think I am ignoring you.