Pooped

We're pooped.  Correction - Buttin, the misfits and I are pooped.  Cashman has a wondrous supply of energy.  It's our busiest week at work so we're all just trying to make it. 

Here's Cub after his hair cut today.

The Great Diamond Caper

Well, not such a great caper.

Today at work, I looked down at my ring and noticed one of the stones in my ring was missing! So sad.  We can get it replaced (it's insured), but my ring still looks like something from a  prize dispenser.

Ironically, a few hours after I discovered one of my stones was missing we got a call from a customers claiming that $12K worth of diamonds were stolen from a ring - the ring wasn't stolen, just the stones in the ring.  Apparently, one of our misfits was one of the last people in the apartment.  Buttin handled it as best as he could, but we're pretty sure that this person is lying. Buttin also got the impression that the police didn't believe the dipsy-doodle either.  Oh well, just another fun day as a small business owner.

Here's a picture a Cub today - happy guy. 

Tradeshow

2nd Place - Not too shabby!

Weekend Update

It was a busy weekend - so I'll update with bullet points:

• Friday night wasn't a great one for Cub.  He was crying on and off from about 2:30 - 3:30 in the morning.  I brought him to bed and he fell asleep on my lap.  As soon as I started to carry him back to his bed - HUGE TEARS - but he fell asleep in his own bed around 4:20.  It was too late for me to go back to sleep (I usually wake up for my run around 5:00).  So I got dressed and ready and headed out early. At least Buttin got something for my sleep sacrifice - Cub slept in till 7:15. 
• My run was decent.  I was planning to go about 21 - 22 miles, but ended up going 19.2.  I guess it was luck (?) but I made a wrong turn and it ended up being a short cut.  Once back in the general vicinity of my car I could have gone a little further to get above 20, but that's just not realistic.  My run overall was pretty good, but a little slower than my last 20 miler (today I was about 12:10/mile), but I blame my sluggishness on my lack of sleep.  
• Cub took a decent nap on Saturday, but in the afternoon he was a G-R-U-M-P.  I mean full wailing and flailing about at the slightest thing.  We ran out of his favorite cheese at dinner time (I tried to give him another kind instead) and I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head from all the crying, head shaking and screaming.  I tried all kinds of distractions (books, tv, toys, other food) and nothing seemed to work - eventually I gave him a bottle and then he cuddled with me on the couch and almost feel asleep while drinking his milk.  (Side note: when I went to the grocery store this morning, I bought TWO packages of his favorite cheese so as to never run out again.)
• On Saturday night, Liz and I went to see a movie - Moneyball (excellent - solid 4.0 cookies) and according to Hannah, Cub didn't make a peep (he was in bed, fast asleep by 6:30).
• Sunday morning Cub slept in till 7:00! 
• My dad is in town from Florida, so after a quick trip to the grocery store Cub and I went over to my aunt and uncle's house to eat breakfast with family.  Cub proceeded to lick every window in my aunt and uncle's house and terrorize the kitty-cat. 
• This afternoon (after a shorter nap), Cub and I went to one of our customer's corporate picnic.  They had an nice air-conditioned inside area, but all he wanted to do was try to get into this disgusting little creek with dead frogs floating in it.  

 

We got home around 4:30 this afternoon and went outside (more) to play.  Cub decided to talk to the airplane flying overhead. 

Then I told him there was an airplane on his shirt, but I think it just made him confused.

We're Gonna Be Famous

Well not really famous, but we are working on a commercial for our little business.

The first phase of our HUGE television advertising campaign is news billboards, you can listen to it here. I think we'll probably win an Emmy.

We hope to have a commercial up in about a month (that's phase two & phase three is our own reality program). Our goal is to be a little cheesy/silly BUT memorable. After all, no one wants to buy their flooring from people who take themselves too seriously.

So, right now Cub is LOVING his little tricycle. He still enjoys his stroller walks, but I think he enjoys being more upright while he's getting fresh air.

To me, he looks like a little chariot racer.

Small Business Owner Updates

When Buttin and I moved from the corporate America world to the small business owner world, I don't think we quite knew what to expect. As much as we have daily tasks, our days are so unpredictable. However, nothing is as unpredictable as our misfits.

Early this week, everyone saw the return of Psycho Stephanie (from preggo days) when I found out that some misfits had been drinking at the office last Friday. We have a pretty relaxed working environment, but drinking at work is pretty much one of the few things that makes me angry.

I was so pissed off that the first thing I did when I went into work on Monday was write up our new zero tolerance policy for alcohol and illegal substances (instead of working on our big sales presentation) and make everyone (to be fair) sign it. I never thought this is something that we'd need to do. Coming from the corporate America world, no one drank at work (well, except when I worked from home and then I started drinking at noon) and the fact that you'd need to tell people not to drink at work NEVER occurred to me. Like I said, unpredictable.

OK, so speaking of our sales presentation - it was yesterday. We did everything that we possibly could and I think we did a fantastic job. If we don't get the job it certainly wasn't for lack of trying - we threw everything at them we could and did it very professionally. This is one situation (I think) where our corporate America experience works to our benefit (versus the whole drinking at work thing, which I was not very prepared for). I'm very proud of our work and I'm glad it's over.

So, onto the Graby picture of the day. His teacher's birthday was today, so they sent us home with a birthday donut. Here's Graby with the donut.

Getting Organized

It's very difficult to get organized while moving so quickly (not running quickly, but you understand what I'm saying), but that's exactly what we are trying to do. Mostly, we're trying to get things organized at work (mostly). It's a huge undertaking considering that most of our time is spent going from one fire to the next.

We didn't really accomplish much today in the way of getting organized (I still have 2009 boxes in my office), but we started talking about getting organized and that's the first step, right?

Our January is going to be maddeningly hectic - Buttin has two trips for work & a local tradeshow. We have one trip for family and my mom and I are running our first post-Cub half-marathon. Added to all that, we have two new misfits starting this week, a huge sales presentation in a couple of weeks and we're trying to close out all the stuff from last year. I know I'm forgetting at least fifteen other major work happenings, but my brain is already mushy just thinking about all the stuff we need to do.

I need a nap (side note: Graby doesn't feel like he needs a nap).

Today, I thought Cub might like to try a little of my hot fudge milkshake. He didn't hate it, but I got a really serious face.

Some People

Some people make me want to do more. They make me want to be a better person.

I bet you thought this was going to be a negative 'some people' post . . .don't worry, I have some of those too.

It's the end of the year and I can't help but think back (reflect, if you will). Have I done enough for others? Do I walk the walk or do I just talk a good game? Am I doing MY part to make this world the place I wish it could be for my son?

I joke a lot about our misfits. Our misfits can be real boneheads. BUT our misfits can also be some of the kindest, most generous people I know (and I know at least 5 non-misfit people).

Our misfits fight like brothers and sisters, but also defend each other from outsiders with the same intensity. The past week (Christmas week), one of our misfits did something very kind for another misfit. He did it without the desire or need to be recognized for his good deed. He just did it because a fellow misfit needed his help.

When I witness things like this, it makes me want to do more - makes me feel like I can (and should) do more for others. I think about some of my goals for 2011, and I want to do more for others.

OK, enough seriously cheesy stuff. Now for some silly pictures of Graby.

One of his most favorite places to play is in the refrigerator door. I was sitting next to him eating leftover monkey bread from Christmas morning and he looked interested in it so I gave him a piece. I don't think he really liked it.


However, that was nothing when compared to the face I got when I gave him a stalk of asparagus. Yuck - apparently.

This & That

A few updates, in bullet point form:

• File this under, "Not a shocker" - Cartman has worms. He apparently has fleas too! Goodie. Buttin took him to the vet today to get a de-worming pill and his yearly check-up. He's in good shape considering he's about 14 or so years old, extremely grumpy and a Chihuahua.
• In other disgusting pet news, one of them (either Cartman or Scratch) decided to vomit on our bed this morning, in two places. It's like a little post-Christmas present.
  
• I'm a little worried about Mo-bear. The past two days she hasn't walked up to the back porch (that I've seen). I even put out BIG chunks of meat and yummy (to a dog) stuff, but she won't come to the door. She's just laying down in the back corner of our yard. I took some food out to her today and she ate it, but them promptly moved to the other corner of the yard - like I was bothering her. She goes through phases where she wants to be right next to me and others where she wants to be alone. I need to make a vet appointment for her this week too.
• Little Cub doesn't have school this week, so he came to work with us this morning. We put him to work trying to fix the two computers I've killed. Apparently, you fix computers with Tootsie Roll Pops.

Interviews

I would make a horrible HR or recruiting professional.

I don't hate interviewing people, but I hate knowing that there are many intelligent people out there and only one position to fill.

We are hiring another sales person and while some might think having a wealth of candidates is a small business owner's dream - for me, it's just kind of sad.

I feel badly knowing there are qualified people who don't have jobs. I think it's the little socialist in me, but I wish that people who REALLY wanted to work could find jobs. I take some small comfort knowing that our position isn't for everyone - just wish I could help them all.

My dear friend Liz has a highly successful resume writing and career coaching business - I wonder if she gets a little sad for some of her clients (most of them are all high-level mangers and executive-types) when they cannot find a position worthy of their talents.

Here's a picture of Cub playing "teething necklace" with Mouser.

The Misfit Story Hour

I've mentioned it before, but I'll say it again . . . we love our misfits, but they sure do attract drama.

I have two stories for you today, both involving misfits and oddly aggressive people touching (and in one case,kicking) our company vans.

**Warning, these are not G-rated stories**

Story 1: "Bring It On"

The following is a paraphrased transcript of what transpired between a misfit (we'll call him Freddie) and the resident at an apartment complex where we do work (we'll call him Trashpo).

It was a beautiful Monday afternoon and Freddie was calmly cleaning an air conditioning vent when he noticed his machine cleaning machine stopped. He went outside and saw a man running from the company van to an apartment.

Freddie: Hey -- are you touching my s**t? (granted, probably not the warmest opening line) Trashpo: I turned that s**t down - it's too loud.
Freddie: Well, stop touching my s**t.

Trashpo went into his apartment and Freddie returned to work. About five minutes later, Freddie's machine was turned off again.

Freddie: Hey man - stop touching my s**t.
Trashpo: It's too f***ing loud, people are trying to sleep.
Freddie: It's noon - stop touching my s**t.
Trashpo: Do we have a problem here?
Freddie: Yeah, we have a problem here - stop touching my s**t.
Trashpo: Well, I'm a cage fighter - bring it on.
Freddie: Well, I'm a motherf***er - bring it on.

Thankfully, this pleasant exchange ended without any physical contact.

Story 2: Kick a Van

Our misfit (we'll call him Charlie) was taking a small short cut, driving very slowly, through a construction area (probably incorrectly) when a man (we'll call him Hickmo) jumped out and kicked our company van. Charlie stopped the van and the following is a paraphrased transcript of the conversation that followed between Charlie and Hickmo.

Charlie: Why are you kicking my van?
Hickmo: You can't drive through you van through here. Hickmo kicks the van again.
Charlie: If you kick my van again I'm going to call the police.

Charlie drives off and Hickmo calls the police. The police find Charlie and pull him over and asked him his side of the story. (Meanwhile our office gets a call from the police dispatcher saying that our van has hit something, but there is no damage to the vehicle - they obviously didn't have the story yet).

Police: OK, Charlie don't drive through a construction zone and Hickmo don't kick people's vehicles.

The end.

You like?

Now here's a picture of Graby (who slept last night from 6:45 - 6:15 straight, no peeps) and Molly - I call it "Bring it on (the puppy kisses)".

Baby Free Friday - Tradeshow

We didn't win, but we had a good time.

Baby Free Friday - Things I Miss

Buttin and I have been small business owners for a little over two years now.

Neither one of us has any desire to return to corporate America, but there are some things that I miss:

• The ability to disagree. In the corporate world, disagreements are not unusual (even between clients and vendors). Corporate folk commonly use phrases like "I'm going to push back", but the point is - they disagree all the time. In our small business world, the customer is always right (even when they're not).
• At the end of the day it was not my problem. I took great pride in my job and worked my little tail off, but I was just a little cog and didn't (thankfully) have to worry about computer problems, paying bills, payroll or human resources. As a small business owner, I worry about all these things and more.
• Vacation. Sadly vacation is not really an option as a small business owner. One day it will be, but right now Buttin and I are too big of control freaks to leave this place for any longer than a couple of days at a time. I hope one day to travel with Cub (take him to Disney World and the Harry Potter theme park), but the longest Buttin and I have both been away from the business (together on a vacation) is two days.
• Powerpoint. Yup, I said it - I miss powerpoint. Decks became such any easy way to communicate ideas when I worked in Corporate America and sometimes I miss the simplicity of just putting a couple bullet points in a presentation and sending it off.
  

The truth is I could do about a dozen posts detailing all the reasons why being a small business owner is wonderful for our family. Every time I talk to a new mom who is dreading going back to work full-time or someone complaining about their boss I am reminded how fortunate I am to be to be a part of our little carpet selling misfit clan.

Happiness

I had a frustrating day as a small business owner.

Actually, it was just one phone call that I let ruin my day.

Sometimes people just want to vent and nothing that I say will change their mind (short of giving away something for free). I so want to make our customers happy that it upsets me when I fail even though I know it is not always in my control.

Oh well, this is small stuff and I'm not going to sweat it.

Besides, I got to spend the afternoon with a little man that brings me immense happiness. We haven't really been able to swim much the last couple of days because of all the clouds (we need the sun to warm up the water) so today I filled up the pool with some warm sink water and some cold hose water to make luke warm pool water.

Here is Graby perfecting his side-stroke:

A Quick Story

Time for a little SBOS.

Most of our misfits are very good hearted; however, some of them just have the worst luck.

On Friday night, one of our misfits locked his keys in his car. He knew that he had another set of keys locked in his manager's office. He tried calling numerous other misfits to let him in the office, but he was unsuccessful (after all, it was a Friday night). So, he did the only reasonable thing and decided to climb on the roof and try to crawl down into the office.

Sounds like a good plan - right? What could go wrong?

Well, I bet you can guess where this is going - he fell through! Thankfully, he fell right onto the couch in his manager's office but managed to break six ceiling tiles in the process. Buttin got a phone call from a very apologetic misfit.

Sometimes I swear this stuff could only happen to us.

Assault On Barbie

OK - time for another quick SBOS.

Assault on Barbie

Once upon a time, there was a delightful woman named Barbie. She loved working at Carpet Warehouse and was usually able to find the good in people (she is certainly much sweeter on the phone than yours truly).

Barbie spends her days doing many different things (especially in August, very busy). One of the things she does is try to collect money from customers who have promised to pay for goods and services, but have taken much longer than any sane person would consider acceptable. Most customers pay and some are even embarrassed that they are late. Barbie has a very sweet way about her and people respond positively to her understanding nature.

Today, Barbie experienced the opposite of a rational (forget nice or sweet or embarrassed) customer. A man came in today who was very late in paying for work we had done (like last summer) to pay his balance. He was hoping that we would continue to do work for his company, but Barbie told him at this time, we could not.

He reacted as if Barbie had called him a Nazi, kicked his puppy and threw a flaming bag of poo in his face. He lunged at her, grabbed her hand (which was holding the checks he had just given her) and ripped the checks away from her. I was just coming down the hall when this scuffle started (it lasted about 10 seconds). I heard Barbie yelling, Hey, Hey, Hey, Wait. At first I thought she was laughing (Barbie usually laughs a lot), but then (about a millisecond after realizing Barbie was NOT laughing) I got to her office and saw the mean man reaching over Barbie's desk and struggling with her for the checks. I started calling for Buttin and just stood in Barbie's doorway. I said something to the mean man, but I don't remember what exactly (it was probably something very intelligent like, you pee-waffle get away from Barbie). By the time Buttin got to Barbie's doorway (which was about two seconds after I called him), the mean man brushed past me. He was very ogre-like, about 8 feet tall (well at leas 6'5") with crazy-eyes and mean looking (that's why I creatively call him the mean man).

Buttin went out after him (mostly to make sure that he had left the building) and Barbie started shaking. I was shaking a little too. It all happened so quickly, but it was just so unexpected.

After work, Barbie went home and had many adult beverages.

The End

Here is Graby demonstrating (with Sophie) what he would have done to the mean man (hang him upside down over a pool of sharks and break his legs - or at least chew on them).

Oh Happy Dance!

Time for a little SBOS (Small Business Owner Story).

A couple of years ago, Buttin and I decided to buy a small business. About a year and a half ago, I decided I would play "sales girl" and go out into the world and try to sell some carpet.

I had some success and actually picked up a few really good accounts. Fast forward about six months and some of my very good accounts declared bankruptcy and these accounts had some extremely high unpaid balances. Ouch!

For the past year I've stayed in contact with the attorneys and management company for these accounts and they have always been great about providing me with updates. However, as with most things in our legal system, things were slow to progress. Buttin and I were hopeful that one day we'd receive the funds that were owed to our little business, but we kept our expectations low.

Well, today we received our money! I did a happy dance all around the office. The funny thing (well, to me) is that Buttin usually gets and opens the good mail (i.e. the checks) and leaves all the crappy mail (i.e. the bills, well some of them and junk mail) on my desk. The check was in an envelope that looked like it was a piece of marketing material. You can imagine my surprise when I opened it and a huge check was inside (I was expecting them to send it certified mail or something more official).

Here is Cash doing his Happy Dance - well it's actually more like a sleepy morning grin, but we'll just say he's doing a happy dance on the inside.

Toys

Barbie has been bringing these Toy Story dolls to work the past couple of days and Cash really likes them. He actually like them a little more yesterday, but of course I didn't have my video camera yesterday.

As you'll also see in the video, he gets a pretty big kick out of himself and his hands too.

A Day Off

Although I'm feeling guilty about it now, I (with some gentle persuasion from Buttin) decided to take today off from work.

We've had a lot going on with work in the last week and let's just say that all of the recent developments have made more difficult to transition easily back into work, especially for Buttin. Buttin had planned on returning to work full-time this week (last week he came home early Monday - Thursday to spend some time with me and Cash), but with everything going on he's really had to be fully present and had to use lots of brain power (on a limited amount of sleep). There was no "coasting" through this week for him and I guess this week has been an experience in business ownership PLUS fatherhood.

Wow, it sounds like Buttin needs a day off.

OK, so back to me. I woke up this morning just feeling beat. I think all the "new mommy" adrenaline is fading. Cash is a wonderful baby and sleeps about 2.5 - 3 hour stretches but whenever he moves or makes any kind of noise in his sleep, I wake up. I think this is normal for most new mothers - about 45 minutes of sleep at a time.

I'm also breaking the cardinal rule - SLEEP WHEN THE BABY SLEEPS. I tend to do work, be at work, pump, clean or do laundry when Cash is sleeping. I have no idea (I'll blame it on hormones) what this strange compulsion is that I have for doing laundry. Honestly, before Cash I would do laundry and throw it on the kitchen table and when our housekeeper came (every two weeks), she would fold it. Maybe (BIG MAYBE) by the time she came back two weeks later half the folded laundry would be put away (mostly by Buttin). Now, I feel compelled to fold it and put it away immediately. This is extremely strange behavior for me, I honestly thought that I would have no problem following the sleep when the baby sleeps rule because I love naps so much, but I've honestly taking much fewer naps post-Cash than I did while pregnant. I'm going to try to be better (but look, here I am writing a blog post instead of sleeping) because I also want to start walking and/or working out next week and I know that I'll need more sleep to accomplish this goal.

So the plan for today (since I took the day off) is to try and take naps, so I'm going to lay down right now and try even though there is a load of whites waiting to be folded on the kitchen table.

The Return Of Psycho-Stephanie

Today wasn't a great day.

I think daylight savings messed me up and I didn't jog waddle this morning - too tired. I also think that "nesting" has set in and I attempted to do TOO much yesterday (I usually just nap on Sunday). The good thing is I accomplished a lot of cleaning, but even after donating three garbage bags worth of clothes - Buttin and I still don't have enough room in our drawers for all our clothes (mostly t-shirts and my running clothes) OK, I'm going off on a tangent . . .back on track, psycho-Stephanie. I'll talk about my day in story form, so here is a thoroughly riveting SBOS:

The Garbage Misfit

Once upon a time, we worked very hard to get on the vendor list of a large management company.

I'd like to think we made the list because of our prices, service, quality and my charm - but one huge reason we made the list is because one of the property manager is a fan and very supportive of us.

Well, I got a call from this property manager today and apparently one of our misfit installers had taken the carpet out of a unit (we were replacing the carpet) and put it in the property's dumpster. THIS IS A HUGE NO-NO! We actually provide dumpsters for our installers to use, so this is just plain lazy (and stupid and makes me angry).

Buttin was ready to go out and remove the carpet from their dumpster, but luckily the dumpster people hauled it off. Thankfully, the property manager and I are on very friendly terms. But of all accounts, WHY THIS ACCOUNT? As an owner, I'm very protective of all our accounts, but fiercely protective of this one in particular.

Bad misfit. I don't think this misfit will be happy tomorrow morning when Buttin gives them a talking to, but they should be happy I'm not doing the talking - because my talking would be more like punching.

The End.

So today was filled with lots of other just plain ole crap and to cap it all off, Buttin got in a teeny-tiny fender bender on the way home from work. I was about four cars behind him and everyone was pretty much stopped. When the car in front of Buttin started moving forward, Buttin also moved forward, but then the car in front of him slammed on the breaks and Buttin hit him going about 5 miles per hour. There was no discernible damage to either vehicle (the other vehicle was a mini-van) and the police wouldn't even come out and write up a report. But, here's the kicker . . . after the driver of the mini-van couldn't find any damage to his mini-van, he started talking about how he was worried about his neck! Oh puhleeezeeee! People like this are what's wrong with our country.