I'm not MIA...

It's Spring Break this week and I've been occupied with many, many children coming and going through my sliding back door. We're having spectacular weather...in the upper 60s, today it is 74, but we have a tornado watch in effect and severe thunderstorms rolling in. I certainly can't complain with the weather though. I am just relieved to be walking barefoot in the grass at this point.

In Jack-land my little suitcases arrived from California! They are just what I wanted. Maybe a tad bit smaller than I expected, but I think they will be fantastic for their intended purpose. Watch for them this summer.

Also had a request for personalized Military buttons today for some families out near Fort Benning. Interesting. Never thought about Military buttons before. Also HS reunion buttons and favors. Hmmm.... very interesting.....

In case you don't see me again for a few days, I'm here, just herding children through my house. Happy Spring!

Easter is...this Sunday? You sure about that?

What?! Thursday already? How did that happen? And are you sure it isn't Friday? This week has been a living nightmare, but all is now quiet on the western front. How many more days until the election? I was asked by my Trustee friend to join some village committees, like maybe the new downtown redevelopment committee or the economic developement committee. I'd maybe do downtown since I have big ideas for what they should do down there. I think fixing up the downtown would do a great deal for improving the image and reputation of this village and would also help to attract other businesses to this general area.

I also put my hat in to run for the PTO board as one of 2 Ways and Means board members. The other member who does W&M asked me to run. We work very well together so if I get elected I think we could do some good stuff. And, like she said, doing some work on the PV PTO would be a good jumping off spot in anticipation of the new K-8 school here in the neighborhood that they have scheduled to open in the fall of 2007 pending positive referendum vote. I have lots of ideas for the PTO.

And I have so many ideas for Happy Jack and just not enough hours in the day. I know I've said it before, but sheesh, where does the time go? I have a couple big projects that I want to launch this summer, graduation is coming up, I need to research school contacts to get some info to teachers before the end of the year, I have new designs in my head that are just clammoring to get out. Today marks the beginning of Spring Break too, and it is sunny at the moment (although only 31 degrees) - so if it warms up a bit I want to take the kids and loopy dog for a walk around the neighborhood. Loopy dog is itching to get outside, although I'm sure she'll walk about 3 houses down the street and decide that's enough.

And are you sure Easter isn't next week?

Search Engines

Woo-hooooo! We just got our first order off the web site from an internet search! Someone looking for bookweek posters visited Happy Jack (we were listed 3rd in the search) and they spent quite a bit of time on the site and placed an order for the poster and a book basket! I am so excited to see the search results finally picking up. More and more people are finding us through MSN and Yahoo searches. Google I'm still working on, but I have complete confidence that Google will pick up soon since I have a good site. It's just a matter of getting the information to the right people.

We're also picking up some support in our fight to take back the neighborhood. Can't really go into details, but I am very encouraged by the backing of support from several influential people recently. There is a board meeting tonight so we will be attending.

Ham, ham, glorious ham...

While we're on the subject of cooking, the girl and I were watching the FOOD network last night and saw a delightful show all about Ham. More than I ever wanted to know about ham, and now I can't stop thinking about ham. I can't wait to go to the store now and investigate all of the different kinds of ham. One thing though, I really didn't need to know where bacon comes from.

I used to scoff at people who watched the FOOD network. Me, being happy to make grilled cheese, spaghetti, and the occassional apple pie, didn't see the need in 24 hours of cooking shows. What in the world could these people possibly be watching? But now I've seen the error of my ways. I mean, I saw a chick make some really good looking spaghetti. Well, it was good before she put olives in it. Ick! :::shudder::: But I also saw a really good show on this contest where people were making themed cakes. The theme was a children's toys, so that was right up my alley. The cakes were absolutely amazing. Works of art, and ya all know, I like art...and cake too.

Sniff....sniff.....

Mmmmmmm......Can you smell the corned beef and cabbage? Yum. I even baked a cake today. Once you get up off the floor and stop laughing you can rejoin the class. Come on now, just because I usually don't cook, doesn't mean I can't. It just usually takes a holiday to motivate me. But I'll have you know that I've been cooking dinner most every night now. Really stinks being poor. I'm afraid some of the area restaurants will go under soon. Bet they're wondering what happened to us.

On another HJ note, my bags finally arrived. They were supposed to be here yesterday, but apparently the UPS man couldn't part with them. The truck flew by, then backed up and stopped, then flew past again. I figured he'd be back, but alas, no, he took my package and hi-tailed it back to UPS-land. But all is fine as the bags arrived today. That's a good thing too...I think brown lunch bags would have looked a wee bit unprofessional.

Oh, and back to the cake...I baked a cake because, of course, it's St. Patrick's Day and I wanted to have a festive dessert to go with my scrumptious corned beef and cabbage dinner. But, I only have one kind of frosting in my pantry. I was hoping for vanilla so I could do a little green food coloring and -voila- festive St. Pat's day dessert....but NOOOoooooo I only have ORANGE frosting. Now I'm going to be celebrating the darn English/Irish rebellion again. Ya know, cooking AND representing both sides of a war are really wearing me out.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Buttons & Beef

The mayor's sign won out over the referendum sign. They came with a HUGE sign last night. heh heh. I love rocking the boat. That's all I'll say politically for now. Although I will point out that the mayor was endorsed by the Daily Herald.

On to other business. Buttons seem to be flying out of here lately. Many are referendum buttons, but I've had orders for lots of other custom buttons lately. I think buttons are making a comeback.

St. Pat's day is tomorrow. Do you have your corned beef? I don't think we do. I better go get some tonight.

If anyone out there (And I think there's only one other person, but it can't hurt to try) knows of someone graduating this year, I'd love that info to send a flyer about graduation baskets and goodies. Anyone have any ideas on how I can get that info into the right hands? Preschool - Kindergarten - Jr. High - High School - College graduations? I will have goodies soon!!

And of course, don't forget Easter is coming up next weekend! Do you have your chocolate carrot yet? Hmmmmm?

Where are my big signs?

Yes, the political battles are on. My suspicions were confirmed last night regarding the two political parties up here in my town. Seems no one up here will admit to being either REP or DEM, so you really have to do some detective work to figure out exactly what's up. And of course, they all just tell you what you want to hear, so even listening to the candidates or reading articles in the newspaper doesn't help much. Have to go back to their voting records to see which side of the street they are on. I think I at least have this one figured out. So I requested a BIG yard sign. And I requested a BIG yard sign to support the school referendum as well. What did I get? The regular tiny sign. Now come on....I'm getting tired of this! I want my BIG sign! I am right at the end of the main entrance to our subdivision (which they claim to be targeting for support) AND right next to the park. Pretty much everyone goes past our house. And other political parties (one of the parties in question above) even asked if they could put their BIG sign in my yard since it is an important area. And yes, I told the Referendum people this, but still, I have a tiny sign. Sigh. I requested a BIG sign from the other party running for mayor so we'll see which big sign gets here first. lol

One more thing...

Ok, we've had the loopy dog for almost a year now. So this is basically our first spring with loopy dog instead of loopy puppy. And this being almost spring the birds have returned even though there's still snow around. Now, here lies the issue:

Spring Birds + Loopy Dog = total disruption to humanity as we know it.

Apparently loopy log doesn't remember that there are such things as birds. And the birds apparently think it is great sport to sit right outside the sliding door mocking loopy dog. Which in turn drives loopy dog to bark even more than the fence people. And this isn't making me a happy camper since I was hoping for a Monday of solitude after the past weekend's festivities.

Ugh.

TGIM...

Whew...made it through the weekend! The play is finished. It went well, we took a lot of pictures on Sunday. Next up is Hansel and Gretal auditions in May. We passed out candy bars and pins to the actors and I was approached by the director about selling in the lobby of other productions or for my products to be included in the goodie bags for some of the other events, like the daddy daughter dance or mother-son date night. She said she is always looking for new and unique items to include.

The school dance went well also. We were there most of the morning/afternoon putting together the gigantic ice cream sodas. They turned out fantastic! Patrick said they were a big hit, and the photographer who was there wants to talk to me about networking. The book baskets did good too. The Harry Potter one was by far the favorite. I don't know how the teachers' favorite basket did, but Patrick has a picture of a little girl carrying the HUGE basket after she won it. He took pics of most of the basket winners.

This week I have 4 basket orders to work on, and ebay stuff to list and new products to work on. But first, another sip of soda...mmmmm......

TGIF!

Wow, what a week! Busy, busy, busy. Not that that's a bad thing, mind you, but I am very glad to see lots of boxes of HJ goodies go out my door this morning! Whew! On today's agenda is finishing up my portion (the art part) of the gigantic ice cream sodas for the PV Family dance tomorrow. I just need to add the highlights to the glasses on the strawberry sodas. Chocolate soda is finished (except the straw...keep forgetting about those) and it is WAY cute! I have to figure out how to post pics here.

Well, the HOA board has voted to have the "tacky fence" (as they call it) removed. At least the portion behind our lot. Not sure about the front. And the HOA president is having it removed because it will cost the builder money to remove it. So really, just because she has some kind of vendetta against the builder. She has certainly voiced her opinion loudly that the fence is tacky, but it looks like they are leaving the portion on the side of my house that everyone will see, which makes absolutely no sense. Go figure. Not dealing with the brightest of people here.

And on a someone related subject, the school referendum people are coming today with a hopefully HUGE sign to put in my very prominent front yard. HOA can't do anything about that since it is a political sign. Bahahahaha. I specifically requested a HUGE one because it is a nice bright yellow and I will put it right where everyone coming into this neighborhood can see it. DH had a great point (as usual)...the HOA is so concerned about the fence because it will drive people from buying a house in this neighborhood but don't they don't give a crap about the downward spiral of the district schools due to lack of funds. Again, consider the source.

End of my Friday rant. Happy weekend all.

Snow, snow go away...

...and don't come back for a long time. Enough already. I really don't like snow very much. I'm a naturally cold person. I need warmth. And blankets. I really like blankets. Can't pass by one in a store without wanting to buy it. And I mean REALLY wanting to buy it. I think I'm a compulsive blankie buyer. I need help.

On another note...we're back to play rehearsal tonight. Last rehearsal and then performances on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I'm really going to miss those kids! It is really neat to see the cast & play come together. I worked backstage for several traveling shows during college and always played bass in the pit for high school musicals. I had forgotten how fun it is. Happy Jack made buttons and candy bars for the performers. I need to figure out a way to be able to sell those at all of the PD shows. Or at least be included on the order form with the T-shirts, etc. I think a button being worn by a kid would be some nice PR for the performance. Will have to work on that.

Enough babble for now. Back to candy wrapping....

WOW-zers

So, one of my FPLP (that's Fisher Price Little People to those not in the know) friends sent me a link to website that has an email list that promotes a small business each week. SHe said why not email this lady and send her your info? Sure, I thought, why not? WELL....my ad hit the internet waves this past Monday. (It was very cute, by the way) I had over 300 web hits in 1 day...and that was from 1pm on. Over 1,000 page views. These people were really looking around! I am thrilled! I had several inquiries come from it in the past two days...1 pending order too. And 7 people signed up for the Happy Jack updates through Constant Contact. The site, by the way, is called WOW Coupons. www.wow-coupons.com

Also, the button business of Happy Jack sure is hopping lately. Lots of orders for referendum buttons. I'm toying with the idea of a special "election" page with school board election buttons and referendum buttons. It seems most schools around here have been having referendum issues.

And now that the Easter holiday items are out, its time to turn my attention to Graduation and end of the school year goodies. I need to get that teacher's club rolling very soon. Watch for something on the website about that soon.

P.S. Loopy dog is snoring.

Another day in pumpkin-land

Moday morning once again. What a busy weekend. Two play performances down, three more to go. But at least we have 3 days off before we start up again. Which is a good thing because we're really behind in making gigantic ice cream soda decorations. So tonight will be spent making those. Today I am finally finishing up the donation baskets for the school raffle.

Loopy dog must have had a late night last night. Doing what? I have no idea, but puppy is still sleeping. Not a peep out of her yet and it is 9am. Oh, I bet I know. She was running around outside yesterday since it was a balmy 55 degrees. That's bound to take it out of a pup. Loopy dog will be raring to go later on I'm sure.

Oh, and on the fence front...we've been officially notified by our homeowners association to remove the fence in 30 days or face legal action. Course, the fence isn't even ours. Guess they didn't feel the need to check that before sending the threatening letter. Way to go HOA.

Man, these days are just flying by. It's already almost show time and I'm so far behind. SPent the last 4 hours tracking down a white leotard and jazz shoes. Last minute additions to the play requirements. Found out about needing those last night at about 10pm after wrapping up rehearsal. Why don't any stores stock leotards anymore? Finally found one in Libertyville after going to 6 other stores in 4 other towns. The play (HONK!) opens tonight at 7:30pm. I will post a picture after the last performance next Sunday.

The Halloween show we went to yesterday was really neat. It was a HUGE show (just as advertised) and was a combo of everything imaginable for Halloween and a party show with suppliers of things like paper plates, balloons and everything you'd need for a party. I was expecting to see a lot of stuff actually FOR Halloween, but other than the costumes and animated horror show type decorations, there really wasn't that much decorative Halloweenie stuff. I did find an excellent plush manufacturer who I will be using for Happy Jack, and also some excellent pencil suppliers, so it was definitely worth the cost of parking.

I love elementary school.

Mt. Vesuvius (made of beans) has left the house. The land-form project is complete. And really cool looking too. My lil' bub did a great job glueing hundred of beans on a volcano. We're having a fence put in along our property line, well, we're not doing it, but the park district is. So there are workers out back and along the side putting up a split-rail fence and driving the already loopy dog batty. Although I haven't heard her bark in a bit so she must be assuming her natural position of laying on her back in the sun with her feet in the air.

Today's agenda includes printing brochures and cards, finishing up the raffle book baskets, working on the gigantic ice cream soda displays, and packing up ebay wins to ship out. Anyone need any vintage toys? Look for me on ebay under HappyJackDesigns and as Lulustoys.

Tomorrow we're off to the Halloween Trade Show to see what goodies are coming out for Halloween. I LOVE Halloween. Bet you figured that out, though, huh.

mmmm...shredded mini wheats....

Sure, it's 11am and I'm just now getting around to having some cereal. It's been a busy morning. Kids to get off to school, husband to push out the door, dog to laugh at, then off to work on the pumpkin place. Got some terrific news...a possible source for some suitcases I've been searching for! Very excited about that as those will come in handy for a summer product launch. Also have been investigating link swaps with some other gift basket people. Have one I will put in place later today.

I'm also going to launch a Teacher's Club where teachers can sign up and receive a 10% off card for Happy Jack. I will have to devise a sign-up form soon.

Alright, time to get back to Jack.