Funny Joke

Todays post is a funny joke :) Sometimes I feel like this when dealing with a customer!

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Did you hear about the Texas teacher who was helping one of her kindergarten students put on his cowboy boots?

He asked for help and she could see why.

Even with her pulling and him pushing, the little boots still didn't want to go on. By the time they got the second boot on, she had worked up a sweat.

She almost cried when the little boy said, 'Teacher, they're on the wrong feet.' She looked, and sure enough, They were. It wasn't any easier pulling the boots off than it was putting them on. She managed to keep her cool as together they worked to get the boots back on, this time on the right feet.

He then announced, 'These aren't my boots.'

She bit her tongue rather than get right in his face and scream, 'Why didn't you say so?', like she wanted to.

Once again, she struggled to help him pull the ill-fitting boots off his little feet.

No sooner had they gotten the boots off when he said, 'they're my brother's boots. My Mom made me wear 'em..'

Now she didn't know if she should laugh or cry. But, she mustered up what grace and courage she had left to wrestle the boots on his feet again.

Helping him into his coat, she asked, 'Now, where are your Mittens?'

He said, 'I stuffed 'em in the toes of my boots.'

She will be eligible for parole in three years.

It's a mouse mystery!!

Ok, as many of you know, I captured the mouse from our old shop and installed him in his own personal castle.

Reggie (as he was named) was a bit shy. Came out of his little hideout every so often, but wasn't around much. I took this to be from being a bit freaked out by being caged.

No big deal.

Well today, I am looking in the cage, and I think to myself "My gosh, that mouse got BIG". He seemed much larger than he was when I caught him.

I figured he must have been young when I caught him, and he's grown up some since. Makes sense, doesn't it?

That is, until I realize that there aren't two eyes looking at me, there are four eyes looking at me.

Let that sink in a for a second, I had too.

That's right, somehow we have TWO mice in the palace.

Now understand something. This mouse habitat is made for mice. There are no openings that even a mouse could crawl through. Nothing. ZERO.

Yet somehow, another mouse has appeared.

My theory is a Dr. Who'esque type time warp that allows this second mouse to come and go as he/she pleases.

Others have given much more boring possibly answers, like that "Reggie" was pregnant when I caught her and this is her baby.

I like my answer better honestly.

Anyways, this actually had me going in circles for a few minutes, I must admit. I called my partner on the phone to see if she put the new mouse in the castle. Her response basically was that I shouldn't sniff so much paint thinner.

Now for the doubters out there, I did have independent verification of two mice. The hair stylist from next door also saw both mice.

Anyways, now the biggest argument is what to name the second mouse. My suggestion of Veggie (so we'd have Reggie and Veggie) was shot down immediately. Of course the person that shot me down, wanted to name him Rat'sputin.

So for now, he's just Jr.

Never say owning a business is boring, otherwise you too might end up with dimension traveling (or cloning!) mice.

- Noel

It's Laser Time!

Ok we now have the Laser setup and working. We spent all day Friday doing training with our rep, and we're "cooking with gas" now!

So far we've done engraving on woods, anodized aluminum, marble and plastic. And we've cut most of the items also.

You can see the latest pictures of some of creations on our Facebook Page

Mainly we've done little decorative things. Soon we'll be doing more construction things with the laser. I have several projects in mind just waiting to be designed :)

One of the greatest advantages I see with the laser, is that we can now personalize anything we sell including our pens and pen boxes. Huge demand for such, and we're ready to service it!

Anyways, soon there will be new items on the Etsy Store

Until then, we're going to keep on setting up the shop, getting more organized, and hopefully have a little fun in there too!

- Noel

The Mouse has a new House

Well the saga of the mouse capture has come to a close.

I was starting to worry a bit about being able to trap Reggie the Mouse. He seemed to be one step ahead of me at every turn. And yes, that was a bit hard on my ego :)

Luckily Reggie and I share a weakness. Lays BBQ Potato Chips. I used some crumbled potato chips in the trap, and sure enough, Reggie fell for the bait.

He's now in his mouse house (or palace depending on your viewpoint). He seems to be taking to it fine, he's been running around exploring.

So that chapter of the move is over.

Luckily most of the rest of the move is also over. We finally were able to move the CNC with the help of a few people, it's 80% set back up. All the furniture and boxes are over, all that is left is a few items of a small nature to move.

So in a few days or so, I hope to be back up and at least starting forward again. It's been quite the adventure, I must say :)

- Noel

Moving Day is Upon Us....

Well we've been moving the shop the last few days. It is amazing how much stuff you can cram into a small shop.

Of course now that we have a bigger shop, that gives us that much more room to fill with stuff!

Luckily I have several people doing the move with me, otherwise I probably would have just curled up in a corner and whimpered at the loads of stuff to move.

Once the move is over, I can get everything set back up and we should be ready to go again! It's been a very long journey getting this all up and running, and hopefully this is the last major obstacle to a grand opening :)

An update on the mouse. He's got a name now. He's Reggie the mouse. And he will be caught in a humane trap, put into a very nice mouse habitat, and moved along with the rest of the stuff.

I gave in and am letting him become the shops mascot.

- Noel

Always a Decision to be Made

As a business owner I am fully aware that daily I will have to make all sorts of decisions.

Do I buy more stock? When do I pay a bill? What project should I invest time in?

These are normal every day decisions that business owners make every day.

I of course, have a different kind of decision to make.

To put it simply, we have a mouse in the office.

He's a cute little guy. Big ears, long tail, fast as the dickens. He can definitely move when he wants too.

He's also a bold little mouse. I see him from time to time during the day out and about. I even caught him on my desk the other day.

So far the only damage he has caused, is he ate all the ketchup out of a ketchup packet that was on my desk. And boy did he suck down the ketchup!

So here is the decision. Do I let him live, hope he will go away, or that I will be able to move him out of the building somehow. Or do I go for the more lethal option and try to trap him.

I never honestly thought the issue would be in question. I've always been a big believer in removing pest from a building.

But this little guy is somehow different. I'm not sure if it is his appearance, or that I admire his courage. But I'm a little confused on which way I should take the issue.

I may just let fate decide. See if he continues to be a good office mate, or if he starts causing problems. One option is to see if I can find a humane trap locally and move him into a nearby field.

The joys of running a business :)

- Noel

Been a while

I know it has been a little while between updates, but things have decided to become very busy with all sorts of misc stuff.

The original plan to buy a building down the street, and move everything has changed. A friend across the street from us has decided to move to a new location, and offered me his building for sale.

The interesting part of this issue, was that his store was my "template" on how I wanted to setup a shop.

So we're going across the street, instead of down the street. But to do this, my friend needed a fast sale. So we've been crazy with putting together the finances on the deal, and getting everything signed and closed.

Luckily we pulled it all off. I'm honestly not sure how we did it! But things are now progressing towards taking down the original shop and moving everything across the street and putting it all back up.

I'm not afraid we can do it all, but the timing could have been better. We have several advertisement products that were coming out in Sept and Oct and we've had to make several frantic calls to change the address on the ads (luckily the phone is staying the same).

It never seems to end craziness wise :) I'm hoping very soon here (VERY SOON) I can actually start working on opening the shop to the public and start doing what I enjoy.

The good news is, that with the move, we'll be in a much better setup. So in the end it will be worth it.

I'll try to keep this all updated more frequently. August was just a hard month for some unknown reason.

- Noel