It's Tuesday right?

Ok, don't be surprised if you have to remind me what day it is...I have a feeling my already dubious time/space continuum is going to be thrown for a loop with this new job. More about that later.

Last night we went to the Village board meeting where we witnessed the appointment and swearing in of a new police chief. None other than our former next door neighbor Cliff Metaxa! Saw him before the circus...er...meeting began and saw his wife Amy too. But dang, it, I forgot my camera. They had a public comment section where several people spoke up on behalf of the outgoing chief (ousted by the mayor). It is quite apparent that what is going on in Round Lake is really a changing of the guard. You can really see it, and I find it really exciting to be here when this change is taking place. The mayor is really trying to turn this town around from the blue-collar, summer cabin type community it once was. New developments of $300,000+ homes, a new plan to totally revamp and restructure the downtown, a classy, educated new police chief, some beautiful new municipal buildings, etc. I really believe that we are on the right course to turn this town around and rebuild the reputation of Round Lake. And I think by redeveloping that downtown area they will attract more upscale businesses to the area as well which will help up with the tax situation. Read more about the police chief appointment here.

Today when I woke up and checked in on Happy Jack I was pleased to see several new visitors from Millikin University, my alma mater. I sent in an update to the alumni office about starting Happy Jack and it seems I am now listed in a directory of alumni-owned businesses. Cool! Check it out here.


I have also been implored by several people to offer wedding favors. Everything I've read on the gift basket biz says to establish your "niche" and sell to that market. I decided on children as my niche because I felt that was an area that was sorely lacking since almost everything else I've seen are baskets full of junk food, candy and crappy toys. Plus I like the little people. I have two I'm especially fond of. But I will admit that the biggest segment of my business is the chocolate wrappers, which are not necessarily all geared towards kids. I have also shyed away from the wedding market because it is SO large and there are so many other people doing just weddings, that I felt I couldn't really compete. After all, I don't actually have any wedding experience since I never had one of my own. Didn't really feel qualified to do wedding stuff since I eloped and missed all that hoopla. But as one of my PTO friends pointed out last night even if I get one large order for candy bars, that's better than nothing, and with that large order more people will see Happy Jack. So in a way I guess it is more advertising. I'm just really not sure how to incorporate it into Happy Jack and market it without taking away from the children's side and diluting the HJ image. Ya know? Maybe I should have an offshoot of Happy Jack....I jokingly said maybe I could call it Happy Jill. But maybe I will have to think on this more. It sure would be nice for things in Happy Jack land to take off so I wouldn't have to do this other overnight job.

Ah, well, back to work. It's 3:30 and I still have so much to do. Not to mention the PTO meeting tonight before I have to go to the job. At least I have tomorrow night off. After that though don't be surprised if I am nowhere to be found for a week or so. I work every night Thursday-next Tuesday. And Thursday starts the girl's play performances. I'll try to post some pics from it by mid next week.