Licensee vs Licensor

Defined:
li·cen·see [lahy-suhn-see] - noun
a person, company, etc., to whom a license is granted or issued.

li·cen·sor [lī'səns-or] - noun
a person or company who grants official or legal permission to do or own a specified thing. See Synonyms at permission.

I had to be clear on these before I even ventured to the Licensing Show. Sure you know what they are but what are they REALLY? In terms of intellectual property or tangible things?

Well I went to the show thinking I was a licensee because my brand isn't well known enough to garner much attention. Certainly not the kind that some slightly larger companies were getting.


The show inspired me to go into licensing and scrap the whole manufacturing thing. But that's another blog post.

Some of the booths were so cool. They looked like little stores.


So it turns out that I was right (kind of) in thinking I'm the licensee because my brand does not have much equity yet. But I would only be a licensee if I was there to, say enter an agreement with an artist so I could put their designs on my line of kids clothes. I would be licensing their art in hopes that people would like it enough to buy it, thus selling my product because of their art. I make money, they make money.

But in another case, because I am a brand owner I would be a licensor. Say Stylease had brand equity and someone wanted to capitalize on the Stylease brand being connencted with mom-invented, problem-solving, well-made products. They would license the logo from me for their products and I would make a royalty on the sales of those products. People bought their products because of the Stylease brand. I make money, they make money.

But not just anyone is granted a license. If you have hardly any distribution and you want the Coca-Cola logo (for example) so you can get broader sales channels (grant me the logo and the sales will come) well, it doesn't work like that.

Coke wants to grant their logo to big companies with wide reach so they can get their name all over the place.

There are apparently no hard rules in licensing. Loose guidelines yes but with all the billions of dollars being made in the licensing industry, there is no such thing as a "Standard Licensing Agreement" every facet of every line of every thought or idea is negotiable.

This is a great thing. but also extremely dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. You would have to hire a consultant and licensing atty. to protect you from pitfalls like a single sentence in a wordy contract that negates a line somewhere else

>POOF< they don't owe you any royalties - didn't you understand line 58 b.1 section 7.

As intimidating as it was with the big guns signing HUGE agreements and renewing successful past deals, what struck me was the incredible energy everyone had. No one was moping around like at the apparel shows where I exhibit. People in licensing are very happy people.

And why shouldn't they be? Here is company A being approached by company B so everyone can make lots of money. And they do. A good licensing partnership is like the best marriage in the world.

Customers want to buy the brands they believe in and trust. Brand owners want to offer products in as many categories as are appropriate for their brand perception. It's a win win.

Next time I will discuss good and bad match-ups between brands and categories. Why some work and some don't.

Licensing Show Journey

So as you may know, I attended the mother of all Licensing shows in NY in June.

It came about in the strangest way. I had been receiving literature about the show for 2 years or so and I always wanted to go but it wasn't a priority. And as you busy people know, things that are not in the top 5 on the list... well, they just don't happen.

So I was going to be flying back to MI with the girls around the time of the Licensing Show so I wrote this year off too (as far as not being able to go) because Rob was staying here, no one to watch the kids, plus we would have JUST returned to MI the timing wasn't right blah blah blah.

Well the same little slap in the face came to me as did when I started this thing. I was digging through old e-mail, found an important contact from last year, and reconnected with him about two weeks before the show. He wanted to meet and asked if I was going to be in NY. I e-mailed my sister-in-law, "Can you watch the girls?" Yes she'd love to. Went to Orbitz, bought my plane tickets. Went to the Licensing Show website and registered, then signed up for the whole conference package since I had no idea what the hell I was doing, kissed my hubby goodbye and left for Michigan. Got briefly settled in then took the girls to their cousin's house and left for New York!

So the moral is: Sometimes the only one getting in your way is you.

Next will come all the stuff I leaned at the show!

Good questions

I had a nice fellow contact me and ask me some start-up questions. I am happy to report that he has gone into production on his line and he is on his way with a fabulous product that you will no doubt see on shelves soon. I am including parts of his reply because I think they bring up some good points. Most of what you read, doing research, is corporate positioned facts and statistics. One reason I started this blog is to let you all in on my actual experiences I encountered starting a soft goods company and trying to launch an apparel brand.

Statistics are interesting and important but I found that when I was doing my research I was not really absorbing the information because it was all so new, I didn't have any reference in place to apply it. I look back now on what I read in the books I bought at the beginning and think, "Wow, that's right! That is true." But at the time it didn't make much sense I was just filling the mental library with information.

I hope you enjoy the following exchange:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Question:
I’m just now uncurling from the fetal position after realizing how little I know... I’ve been doing a lot of research and a lot of what you covered I’ve never heard before. If only you had more time I could totally see a book from you, that breaks down how to launch a product, based on different budgets.

Awesome tip about who manufactures the product. I would have never phrased it like that.

Did you set the amount you were going to spend at the beginning and have a large upfront cost that maintained you for awhile, or did you have to spend and spend and spend?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My reply:
To answer your question regarding money... I did not do a business plan. (But I have one now) Blessing and a mistake.
A blessing because had I planned more, I would not have started the business because I would have had some indication of the colossal undertaking involved in trying to launch an apparel brand.

A mistake because had I planned more I would have had some indication as to how expensive it would be.

The problem with investing "in the beginning" is that the beginning could take 5 years. I have invested about $400,000 so far. Investors, 2nd home mortgage, separate business loans etc... Your trade shows and advertising budget annually should be about $20,000+. It is imperative that you advertise consistently. The best venue for juvenile items is Earnshaw's. It's a phenomenal, very focused infant/toddler children's wear trade mag. I pick up 1-4 new accounts a month just from my ad in that magazine. So that's about $700-$2,000 a month in ad rates depending on the size of the ad you run. Travel and hotels for tradeshows run about $1,500 per show plus $3000 in booth fees x 2-4 shows a year. You might surmise from this, that a 10-15K initial investment is nowhere near enough to sustain even the first year. And you can't count on that nice $250,000+ order from Sears in the first couple years. You might get it, great! But what if you don't? Do you have the cash flow to keep moving forward?

If you have a gift item you should REALLY invest in fantastic packaging design because if the concept is great, fabulous packaging would put you over the top. Consider consulting a MERCHANDISING specialist. Marketing and publicity is great but someone who can help you with merchandising will be key. You will also have to deal with high insurance premiums and textile testing because you are in the juvenile market. It's pretty strict in flammability requirements and you are dealing with the highest liability bracket so insurance will need it's own budget consideration.

Even if you do get a big order right out of the gate, you will need to use asset-based lending to manufacture it because you won't see a dime from big stores until 3-6 months AFTER you SHIP the order. Try not to use a Factor. Their rates are not competitive. Celebrate your first big order but should they cancel while the order is on the way to the floor (which they do, because the wind changed direction or the PMSing buyer never wrote the order down and says she never made one with you. I'm not kidding) Then you have lots of inventory and you will have to pay for it somehow.

Start small. Boutiques prepay with credit cards mostly (get set up to take credit cards if you don't already) But be prepared to be in the mom and pop market for a while. If you can open enough accounts, the cash flow is much better and MUCH less hassle than big accounts.

Consider contacting big brands like Gerber or Carters to see if they want to license the patent (if you have one to license) so they can put their name on it and your manufacturing and distribution problems are solved.

If you plan to launch your own brand, be prepared to commit a couple hundred thousand $$ for the long haul.

And know that in the United States, in this economy it is extremely difficult to get a big box store to give you that vendor number and the real estate (rack space) on the floor and get behind the product so that you will see the sell through you need to get a re-order. So far, I have found it impossible. That isn't to say it can't be done, but unless you have an in, all I can do is wish you the best of luck. And should you succeed you must come back and tell me how you did it! :-)

OTHER LINKS:

Consider advertising on JamesGirone.com It's also a great place to find reps and a ton of other info for the juvenile soft goods industry.

Find a good, honest contractor (manufacturer). They will source fabric for you and trim and print up your hang tags, garment tags, order your custom painted snaps... EVERYTHING. One-stop-shop. They will even handle all the packaging. And work in US dollars only if your contractor is overseas.

Just for clarification: YOU are the manufacturer of your product. Even when you hire a "manufacturer" they are actually your sewing contractor. People will ask you, "Who manufactures your product?" The answer is, "We do. It's our product, we design and manufacture it." Unless of course you license the patent to Gerber... that's a different story.

My warehouse and fulfillment company is:
E Fulfillment Service. Great rates, incredible customer service, safe, clean, dry warehouse with virtually zero error and theft rate. They are so so SO good.

On a smaller scale to help with pattern development right here in the US of A... try
Pattern Design Unlimited I have never worked with them but am constantly intrigued by the services they offer...

Contact SCORE if you want for free business advice... investor stuff and you name it. My SCORE consultant is one of my most important allies. And over the years I have worked with him, we have become good friends.

One of these days I will get into the details of licensing. What a great industry THAT is!!!

Moving again

No apologies this time. I'm packing up half a house and kids and pets and business stuff to head back to California. And have been for a few weeks. It has been a nice but short summer. I can't help but think next summer will be more fun and less do-dad and odds and ends. There was so much to do this summer and so little time. And really no help. It was fun having Rob here for two weeks but I could REALLY use him this week!

The girls and I go back on Tuesday. I have so much I want to tell you!!! A follow-up on all the amazing stuff I learned at the Licensing show, a few topics that I read in the paper made me want to run to you and bloggity blog about it but I even forget what the topics were. It was important to remember at the time, but there they go... Whooosh!

But just since this rental property bathroom took up 3 solid weeks in July, and impacted my summer a bit...here it is:

This is what it looked like when we got a hold of the place. Broken tub and toilet wall in the middle of the tiny room, paneling... it was a nightmare. Someone call the fashion police.


So we ripped it out and put in this one


It was nice but the shower had leaking issues that ruined the floor and walls so I tore it out and decided to go the tile route...


So now we should not have to deal with it ever again. Plus, the claw foot tub is very stylish I think.

Success!!

Yes, we can all certainly tell how well my new plan is working!

I've been posting every day. I'm such a good girl.

What do you mean there were no new posts? WHAT?! All that fantastic advice and life experience WASTED? But but but...

Yeah. About that. Too bad. I'm here now aren't I? :-) I've been re-doing a bathroom in a rental property next door. Which is the thing to do during show season when you are trying to run an apparel company...

Tile a bathroom.

Rob is home for all of 2 weeks and can we go camping? No. Can we go snorkeling. No. There was a sign at Home Depot today that read "Do it right or do it over." Ain't that the truth.

So how the heck did "ain't" make it through my spell-checker?!? I understand that the apostrophe is to replace the missing letter as in (do not = don't) or (were not = weren't) but what the hell is "ain't" all about? My smarty pants writer friend Lisa probably knows.

Other funny things I saw today... a bumper sticker on a truck that said
"Driver Carries No Cash - he's married"
I'm glad I think that's funny. I have a friend who would be offended by that little bit of wife-bashing.

On a COMPLETELY unrelated subject... I added Paypal to my website. So now all of you baby clothes shoppers can do an express checkout easy-cheesy.

Here is a little cutie sporting the style Cleo. Yes, I know she is standing on a table... I normally cut the models out, discarding the background. But here you see the "director's cut" as it were. Lucky you.



This picture is actually the basis for my August ad below.

New Plan

I have to have a new blogging plan because OBVIOUSLY the current one is not working.

In a perfect world I would love to post every day. Lord knows I have enough to say!! Why can't I do it? A couple reasons:

1.) Discipline.

The same discipline I lack to get my butt up and get to a gym... Actually, I just plain don't like working out so that is really more preference than lack of discipline.

2.) Justification.

Like how I justified my lack of discipline as merely a preference... nice one.

So the new plan is to not try to post some big profound thing. Just go for little bites. Little things that occur to me or things I run across.

So todays little ditty is this... I was reading the Cherry Festival schedule this morning (because the National Cherry Festival is going on here right now) and some singer named Kellie Pickler will be performing on Sunday. Then about an hour later I get an e-mail from a girl named Connie Gurkin... Then I was talking to our tenants next door and they mentioned their dog Olive...

Pickler
Gurkin
Olive

Praise the Jewish Carpenter it's a sign from above! I should have a summer porch party!!!

Who am I kidding? I can't even seems to handle a regular blog contribution. Well, Rob is due in town on the 21st. He's a bit of a porch party all by himself. He's the Mojito-maker anyway.

We'll wait breathlessly for his arrival.

Back in Michigan for the summer

Ah what a grand time to be in No. Michigan. The trees are all green and the fish are biting. I caught a good sized rock bass tonight while fishing with the girls. Threw it back since I don't have a license yet this year. Well, that and I don't like cleaning or cooking fish... But it was great. No bait either, just a killer lure (which got stuck in a rock on a later cast so I no longer have it...) sigh.


So the Traverse City Film Festival is in full dysfunctional swing and I have to say I am so glad I'm not involved. Word is that the founder is tougher and tougher to work with. I gave up last year. Or rather I should say that I have enough self esteem to not tolerate my time and talents being wasted, insulted and disrespected, for a second year in a row. I imagine he will be insufferable this year with his latest film coming out just before the festival begins. It's a shame too because I think his work is really important. He has a loud voice that yells about issues that most of us wish we could do something about and some try but how can one person or even an impassioned group change huge corporate problems and injustices?

Well he can because he mobilizes the masses. But this is a little lesson in good management... You simply cannot abuse the people you need services from. An ex-assistant of his told me that he has to restaff with all new people after every project he does because no one will work with him again. That works fine in New York because there are lots of people to go through who will take the abuse for the privilege of working with him. Once. The problem with mistreating people in a small town is that he will very soon run out of individuals who are actually trained in and able to do some of the specialized things that need to be done.

He may have tyrant syndrome (I just made that up). It's too bad he does not know when to turn it on and off. It was very evident to Rob and me last summer that it isn't the Traverse City Film Festival but in fact it's the Michael Moore Film Festival. It really is. Not from a political platform, but a micromanaged one.

I hope the public has a fabulous time and soaks up some great film experiences. And I hope he doesn't burn his way through every willing volunteer in Northern Michigan. He may just have to move the festival to Flint after all.

Happy summer folks.

Licensing - The Great Unknown

I probably should not title a blog post like that when I'm on the verge of departing for the biggest Licensing Show of them all. What if someone reads this? Then they will know, that is one little corner of my business I can safely say I know nothing about. A ripe target for some savvy licensor to take advantage of little ol me.

Yeah, well I promise you two things:

> I will not sign any major licensing deals before I go. (Except maybe to renew my driver's license)
> I will be A LOT smarter in about two weeks.

I get to go to NY for 4 days and be one of the lucky ducks going to the conferences and walking the floor. It will be fun to not have to set up and tear down a booth.

My company is sending me, all expenses paid! I'm so glad I work for me. I'm so nice! But I'm also frugal and pining for a visit with my Score buddy Phil, so I will be staying with his lovely wife and him.

We leave on Tuesday to go back to Michigan for the summer. I need to touch base with my warehouse. Love them still.

Swing Set Sweetie

Here is another adorable kid in Stylease.



This little cutie-pie is actually one of our models getting all grown up! You can see her as a littler person modeling our Garden Party style.

Littler is right. The pictures of our models are teensy... I will have to fix that.

Yea, yea, I'll put it on the list. If I had a boss breathing down my neck, they would be saying,
"Where are those reports Hughes? Did you mail out those catalogs like I told you to? What about resizing the images on the website? Hu? Are you listening Hughes? Are you? Did you lie on your resume? You can be replaced you know!"

"But... but but... just give me another chance. I have kids you see. And and and I was sick with the Chicken pox and a cold. The... the sun was in my eyes and and..."

"Not my problem Hughes. I got problems of my own. Get caught up or your fired!"

Slowly I start packing the pictures of my family and the other personal items from my desk. My favorite coffee cup, a candle that I was never allowed to burn. The little tube of hand lotion there by the phone. I'm going to miss this place.

Hey, wait, that's my dining room table. I'm clearing it off because we have to eat dinner!

Branding

Earnshaw's, a magazine that I advertise in, was doing a story on branding. They selected me for the interview. These were the questions posed and how I answered them.

What is your company known for?
Stylease is patented one-piece infant wear that looks like separates. Giving ease to the parent and style to the child.

Did you recognize the value of branding from the beginning and intentionally brand your company? If so, how did you go about it in the beginning?
Yes, absolutely. Because our product is specific, all our items are one-piece rompers that look like separates, I knew I wanted consumers to tie the Stylease brand to the concept.

I bought two books when I started the company. One of them discussed branding. I designed and executed my brand in photoshop. I went to the USPTO website and read through tons of legal documents and filed my mark for consideration for a trademark. After about 4 months I was granted registration and changed my tm to an ®.

When I consulted a patent and trademark attorney to write my patent app. he asked how I knew what to do to register a trademark. There are apparently quite a few rules that I managed to comply with. I just told him I read all the paperwork. He also mentioned that I had a very strong design. That it possessed qualities of a successful mark. That was nice to hear, since I didn't use any guidelines when designing it.

What do you do now (ads, in-store events, hangtags, etc)?
I do regular advertising, have hangtags, in-store displays, booth signs, website, catalogs, direct mail postcards.

How do you protect yourselves from the also-rans? What role does your established brand identity play?
I filed a patent application and it was pending for 18 months then was granted. A patent pending is sometimes stronger than the actual patent because no one can see what is being patented while it is pending. So far that seems to be working. The Stylease brand is establishing itself not only with the product but with our company mission of a 100% satisfaction guarantee, terrific customer service, innovative products, value, comfort and style. Even if the copycats start, they won't possess all the qualities that the Stylease brand offers and our customers will turn to us for the service and quality they have come to expect.

Have you needed to adjust your brand identity as the company has grown or offered different product categories? If so, how did you do it--by creating a separate brand or expanding the one you had?
Yes. The company wants and needs volume sales to survive. In order not the jeopardize the branding level that Stylease has established, we are coming out with another brand that will be distributed to different levels of retail.

Is your brand message targeted to kids or their parents?
Definitely to the parents. Our products run 3-24 months in size. The mini-adult styling and easy-on-easy-off one-piece design is geared to appeal to parents, grandparents and the overall gift market.

Jenservation: Launching your own brand is HARD!! And expensive. Who knew?! Consider licensing if you are short on resources and don't necessarily want to start a business to launch your idea.

Stylease hits the Masters!

Well, Ok... the baby golf masters...

This cute little tyke showed up on the course looking especially stylish in his red Hawaiian Stylease outfit (Poo-Poo Platter).

It's hard for ME to believe that it's a one-piece outfit and I designed the darned thing! It warms my heart to see little babies looking so cute in the stuff.

Thanks Baby G for looking so debonair. And thanks to his mommy for allowing him to be published.

FORE!

Send catalogs and they will come

It's amazing how, if you provide people with information
like a catalog
they will use it.

A bunch of old stores that stopped using the reps we no longer have, received our new catalog and were so excited, they placed orders right away.

Imagine if I had sent them out regularly. Ok, my new mid-year resolution is to get into a serious routine with deadlines like catalog mail dates and newsletter send dates that go along with my sample completion and go-into-production calendar.

It will be easier to function next year because Lil will be in school all day, like P. Right now I have 2 hours of uninterrupted time to work and running to the grocery store or doing laundry sometimes sneaks it's way in there... sometimes I take a half hour to eat lunch... you get the idea. Not much is getting done. But I am making good contacts and am involved in my kids school and their activities and that is important so I'm not beating myself up too bad about it.

I think the newsletter campaign will be fun. I am also looking into licensing. It's a world I know nothing about so we will see what's involved.

Taking the kids to Disneyland tomorrow to hook up with old friends. Should be fun.

Ah the good old Day

Mother's Day is around the corner and I even managed to get something in the mail on time for my mom. This is quite a feat in my scattered schedule.

The girls have been talking about what they are making me at school. I can't wait to see the stuff.

So on Monday morning at 6:45 I groggily went to the guest bathroom in the hall to do the obvious, and looking up at me from the toilet bowl in the dim morning light, with a chilly and slightly embarrassed expression on its face, was a baby opossum...

IN my toilet.

Not thrashing around or hissing, just sitting there submerged like a little furry alligator with its forehead eyes, ears and nose just above water level. Looking at me with a half concerned but mostly uncomfortable expression.

My first reaction was, "Get the camera!" But it was fleeting because the little bugger looked so cold I thought I'd better get him out of there. Now I'm kicking myself because I could have had my photo op AND saved the little twerp because he had probably been in there for hours, what's 30 more seconds for a portrait?

Oh well. One of those regrets I will carry to my grave.

So I figured I could reach around the back of his neck and pick him up like a mama cat picks up her babies. He hissed a little but what could he do? He was in a rather calamitous position at that moment. He basically complied and I wrapped him up in a nice warm towel. He (or she) actually looked rather grateful. As grateful as a humiliated Opossum can look I guess.

Once safe and sound in a box to dry out for the day, he promptly did what his mommy had taught him and played dead. Rob remarked that he admired the dedication of a critter that could lay that still while fleas crawled all over its head... gross. The fleas had gone to higher ground and camped out on Opossum Head Island. I even noticed a tiny hammock and market umbrella by the left ear.

This is some other bloggers "Opossum in Toilet" picture and isn't half as good as the one I would have taken but at least she took one!


I'm so disappointed in myself. I usually don't miss an opportunity like that.

Now the moral of this story... to try and tie this incident, somehow to a business based blog... would be:

Don't overreact to a situation. (not screaming at the sight of the thing)
Take a calculated risk (reaching in with un-gloved hand to pick it up by the back of the neck)
Don't hesitate and miss a once in a lifetime opportunity (photo op)
Have compassion (Didn't flush the little sucker)
Keep nerves under wraps (The fleas on his face GROSSED me out big time but I stayed cool)

Have a great Mother's Day all you fabulous Moms out there. (That's just in case I don't get a chance to post again before then... I make no promises :-)

Shipping Woes

It's amazing how one little transposition can screw up a shipment so completely.

On my catalog order I accidentally put 95104 instead of 91504 for the delivery zip. Because no person actually LOOKS at your package any more, it just gets scanned and loaded from truck to truck bouncing around Sacramento, San Jose and Los Angeles when it's supposed to go to Burbank, one little number causes great distress and angst to a person waiting for catalogs that were already 4 months late in getting done!

Shee-ish!

Ok, so I can not blame anyone but myself for this one. Believe me, I tried. I at first blamed FedEx. Then when I found out the wrong zip was being used I wanted to get my money back from the printing company who OBVIOUSLY wrote the zip down wrong from my original order.

So to prove my point I checked the automated response from my web order, summarizing the info I had input, and there is was, by MY hand...

9 5 1 0 4

Crap.

So, I still don't have them. They shipped 10 days ago...

I'm so annoyed at myself. Because every once in a while I'm reminded that I am a mere mortal and not the ever-perfect, never (hardly ever) erring organism that walks the earth.

I have erred and it is costing me. Waaaaaaaaaaaa!

Tomorrow is a new day. I wish it was Saturday. I could use some sleep.

Carry on mighty soldiers.

What the?

Where the heck did my comments box go? Ok, granted I don't get a thousand comments per post or anything like that but, um... I would like it to at least be an option... I know that most of my 5 million+ readers a day don't leave comments because they are very busy, important people. They all call me though so it's nice to hear from you all, but please, I need to get back to work and you should SEE my cell phone bill! So text me from now on, ok?

I thought it was about time for a picture. More graphics! Give me more graphics!!!
Here is a rental property we own in Traverse City, Michigan. It's a sweet little victorian home that had at one point been turned into a duplex. One+ bedroom apartment upstairs and a two bedroom apt. downstairs. It JUST happens to be for sale if you are looking for a terrific investment property or an owner-occupied situation. It's listed at $235,000. A steal! Do you like the colors? That was me. :-)



And here is Traverse City in the fall...

Strange Holidays

Around this neighborhood today there was much flag waving and car-hood-banner wearing. A lady asked, rather annoyed, why the Persian market on the corner was closed. She couldn't get the stuff she wanted. Someone told her that is was not a Persian market, it was an Armenian market and it was closed because today was Armenian Genocide Day... An unofficial "holiday". The woman replied, "What Armenian genocide?"

So goes the virtually unknown fact that Armenia went through one of history's worst genocides ever, during WWI between 1915-1917. Around 1 million Armenians were systematically eliminated by the government of the Young Turks. The lack of a public prosecution of the organizers behind the Armenian Genocide by the Allied powers was said to have largely influenced Nazi Germany and Hitler.

When I moved here to L.A. in December I looked up info on Armenians because I wasn't sure what the heck it was. Was it the middle east? Was there actually a country called Armenia and why are there so many Armenians here in LA? Why did they want to leave their country?

Armenia is a fascinating and tragic place.

What I couldn't figure out is why on earth they wanted to create a holiday about such a horrible thing? None of my Japanese friends celebrate "Hiroshima Day" with a day off from work (that I know of)... I don't remember the post office being closed every year on the day Pearl Harbor was bombed. So I really didn't get it.

Then a young girl passed me on the sidewalk this morning and the back of her shirt said "We demand global recognition of the Armenian Genocide"

And I thought, "Oh, ok. That's fair. I get it now."

So to the Armenians I say, "I'm sorry for what happened to your culture. It's unthinkable. Now, could your young men please stop drag-racing their Mercedes sedans up and down the street at 500 mph? And would you please turn your music down after 9pm so my kids can sleep? You are welcome here but please respect your neighbors."

I'm glad the market on the corner will be open again tomorrow. They have great baked goods and lots of neat foodstuffs you can't get anywhere else.

The trouble of a Tool Room girl

I took the liberty of retyping the following prose because I thought it was just a piece of history that needed to be shared. My husband Rob and I came across these words typed from a very old typewriter, on very old, yellowed aged paper, so light from exposure, you could hardly read it. It was in a display case at the railroad museum in Griffith Park near Los Angeles. I retyped it exactly as the writer had written it. What war she is talking about at the end, I don't know. Most likely World War II. At the time, women took men's jobs as they headed off to war and this young lass apparently worked in the tool crib at a rail yard. There was no name on it or date but we thought it was very entertaining. She seems slightly ahead of her time. And I give you,

“T R O U B L E S”

My job is full of troubles and now I will tell you a few of the unpleasant things that I’m forced to do.
Now if I wasn’t naturally a virtuous young miss, I wouldn’t hold my job down long enough to tell you this. A dozen times a day my modesty is shocked and I’m a very thankful girl the tool room door is locked.
Now I don’t mind such decent tools as wrenches, drills and shears but some of the tools they ask for make me red behind the ears.
A man fixing a bearing comes and asked to see my balls and before recovering from the shock, another fellow calls. He asked for cocks to put on pipes; for counterbores and tits. But when they ask me for a screw it scares me into fits.
They want reamers to enlarge their holes. At least that’s what they say. And then they ask if I have a nut, a dozen times a day.
They ask me for a ratchet drill and for a bastard file.
One day a fellow come to me as I had returned from lunch, and asked me through the window if I’d seen his big prick punch. Such things as that annoy me but what I won’t forget, is when the cashier asked me if I’d had my monthly yet.
The foreman looked one day for some tools to gut a slot – said to me “open up my drawers, and show him what I got.”
They ask me for a bitch dog, which makes my temper wild. One asked me for a female gauge, which almost made me wail, because I had to ask the difference between a female and male.
One man complained, “My tool’s too short” Another “It’s too long” Another says – his tool’s too weak, another – it’s too strong.
One asked me if I could put him wise as to where he could find some tailstock. Another wants a bunch of waste to wipe off a plumber’s cock.
Another old machinist who had one half a jag, asked me at the window for a handful of my rag.
Now this all goes to show you that on all working days, a tool room girl must take it in a dozen different ways. But when this war is over and we all start life anew, I guess I’ll miss that window and the boys who need a screw.

The trouble of a Tool Room girl.

And then there was this time...

when I was in the spice isle looking for dry white wine...

I kid you not. This recipe called for dry white wine and I thought, hu powdered wine. I don't think I've ever seen that before. I must have spent 15 minutes searching the spices. Searching and searching. A woman asked what I was looking for and when I told her, and I heard myself say it... I felt like an absolute idiot. There I was in the spice isle, laughing my butt off.

I can't even call it a senior moment...

HOOZAH!!!!

The F$%^&(@#$%&^#%$$#%#^ING catalog is done!

And due to a warehouse error, there is a typo. Grrrr. I had marked a size of one style out of stock but the warehouse had switched sizes by accident and in fact I have plenty of the "out-of-stock" in stock but the 6-12 month size listed in the catalog doesn't exist.

Oh for Pete sake!

And who the heck is Pete anyway? Is it Pete's sake? Like, as in St. Peter? One time I was writing a paper and I wrote "...the boy next store" I knew it didn't look right but it took me a while to figure out what was wrong. Oooooh. Next DOOR.

And I love it when people use "of" when they mean "have". I worked with a management level employee (Eric, you know who I mean) who constantly put out broad reaching e-mails and memos and ALWAYS used phrases involving "of"... "I would of done it myself, but I ran out of time..." Holy grammar Batman!

My mom and grandmother were teachers and I do pride myself on my proper grammar but I do still say, "Me and so and so" Instead of "So and so and I"

I guess I just think I'm worth putting first. Yea, that's it, I have a good self image...

Are you buying this at all?

Here is the cover of the new catalog. I'm so happy I'm done.

This Week's Weather

Now, I don't mean to brag or anything. But Southern California is not a bad place to spend the winter and spring... Normally we would be at the midwest office in Michigan.
Next year the school schedule will actually allow me to get some work done. But for now I will upload my new catalog to the printer with sick kids in tow. Both are home sick from school today.
So goes the balancing act of the mompreneur.

Happy spring. I'm thinking of you wherever you are.