The name change is almost complete

The new awning was delayed and the new bag design also stalled, but we're on track now. Both have been ordered and the change is almost complete.

I have been ordering like mad this week. I have found some unbelievably fun and delightful products that you haven't seen before. I am very excited. I will post some sneak peak pictures soon.

It took until 3:00 today, but email and website up and running

Today I give thanks that I build my own websites and know enough about things like DNS servers, I was able to figure out what was going on with my website and emails. The registrar of my domain name was changing. It was not supposed to happen until Aug 2, but the site went down with no warning. I will not bore you with the gory details, but Murphys Law came into play and it all had to happen on the day before a four day weekend. No one was at CIRA until seven this morning. And still it took me another full 8 hours to get the site back up.
But we're up and running. Thank goodness. If you were trying to email us, you would have your email bounced back. If that happened to you, please resend. I get about 100 emails per day, so I know you are out there!

Dragon Horse website and emails are down

Its one of those things. Murphy's Law at its best. When would a website and all of its attached emails go down. That's right. A long weekend.
I notice the emails were not coming in today, but that does happen on occassion. Tonight I wanted to check something on the website. It's not there!! So, I'm trying to sort it out. For the moment you can check out the new site at www.pittandhobbs.com and email us at sales@pittandhobbs.com
Sorry for the inconvenience.

Okay, you an all relax...the glasses have been located

I was in the back working on my computer today. Allan came in and pointed out to me that the missing glasses were actually right beside me, in an agate bowl, on the lowest shelf. How on earth did they get there? I have no idea.

My missing glasses

I'm desperate. I am constantly losing things. CONSTANTLY!!! For about a week I have been looking for my black prescription reading glasses. My worst fear is that I set them on the free table by mistake. Sounds like something I would do. But I am certain they are in the store, so if you see them lying around anywhere...can you let me know. All I can say, is thank goodness I keep two pairs at the store.

The new cash register is in!

Our new cash register arrived this morning. After using a toy for the past couple weeks, I am pretty excited about it. It has a lot more categories programmed in it, so it may take us a few days to get back to our usual zippy selves.

A new name is afoot

So, the cat is out of the bag. You've noticed the new name! It's been in the works for a couple of months, but things sometimes work out differently than planned.
We've had to move the change forward by a few weeks. Our cash register died a couple of weeks ago, meaning we needed a new one. Also meaning it would be silly to have it programmed twice in just a few weeks. So the decision was made to quickly do the planned name change RIGHT NOW. So I whipped up a website and am working fast and furious at switching everything over. And here we are. We are about half way through the change. New bags have been ordered and a new awning will appear very soon.
The name change has been something we've been thinking about for a long time. Almost all of our Chinese suppliers have closed their businesses. This has left us with a Chinese name and the Chinese colours of red and gold on the awning and business cards, and no products. It just didn't, in a very literal way, make sense any longer.
The store has been undergoing a slow transition for some time, as we've been losing said Chinese suppliers. So there won't be a sudden and shocking change.
I hope you find the new name as fun as I do. And, it really rolls off the tongue doesn't it.

The 'Free Table' was a hoot

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our fourth annual Free Table day. We squirrel things away all year. Anything that isn't quite perfect, products we are discontinuing, or samples, demo discs etc. as well as everything left on the sale table and some special surprises, go on a large table and it's free. You don't have to buy anything, which is something we get asked all day long. It is just free. It is more fun for us than I can even say. Thank you.

We do give advance notice of Free Table day and time through the newsletter. So sign up if you haven't already.

Cash register meltdown...didn't see that coming

Having my morning coffee and a call comes from the store. It was Noel telling me that the cash register was dead, but just to be really annoying, beeping steadily. What fun. I just happened to have another at home for taking to shows. Thank goodness. Our CR people were closed. We had to frantically reprogram the taxes (yes it's been that long since we used it), put sticky notes on the keys so that all of us would know what the keys are, and then put sequencing sticky notes all over the front. It got done. I must say it's a noisy bugger. So if you're in the store and hear a god awful racket...yup it's the cash register.
My darling sister Jess came in to help us move some furniture around. It ended up being a bit busier than I thought it would be, so we were in everyone's way. Sorry about that. It does look a lot better though. We all have Karen to thank for that. It was her idea!!
Every year we have an amazing day. We call it 'free table' day.

What it is:
It's a table.
There's stuff on it.
The stuff is free.

We love free table day. It is more fun for us than you can imagine. My favorite line is "what does it mean, free?" People often just look incredulous, or confused. Then they get it. It's really free, and people just light up. We make their day...which in turn makes ours. Thank you darling customers.

Cheryl Dawn energy worker and shaman

Our first morning in Hawaii, we went up to the KTA. The KTA would be like Thrifty Foods in Sidney. We go up the hill, we pick up a few groceries and go to the bank. Who should walk up to us. Cheryl Dawn. She is a brilliant energy worker and shaman from Sidney BC. In our links on the website, you will find her. Check out her website for information on her wonderful classes. Noel and I (Erin) have taken Reiki, Crystal Healing and reiki drumming. Noel became a Reiki Master thanks to Cheryl.
Cheryl Dawn and I had a chat on the phone a few days before that as she guided me through my dear cat Izzy's transition that day. I did not know it was Izzy's last day, but Cheryl gave me some advice that made it a special day for both of us. Without her, it would have been just another day with my kitty. But...it wasn't.