#partydot

A week to pack, a week to unpack and now time for catch up. It's amazing how far you get behind when you just do the bare minimum to stay afloat for two weeks time.  But orders were shipped, customers were happy and we finally got settled.

I also may not have convinced my father to pack orders and run to the post office for deliveries yet.  BUT he has been a great help picking up the girl from school. Especially since she tore her ankle up playing softball. At least 4-6 weeks in an aircast and on crutches for her. MRI as soon as insurance approves it, fingers crossed that is all she needs.  This is a tough thing for a girl who as tough a time sitting still as I do.  

OUCH! And it looks good in that picture. 

So Pat is still doing all of the shipping.   The good news is our packing and shipping area is no longer the top of our bed but on a real office counter: 

Now that's an improvement! 

The desk is even big enough for Pat and I to sit side by side and work or to skype with Mark and KJ. 

Speaking of Mark and KJ they just finished up a 36 hour fiasco at the airport as they oversee production of our new line.......coming soon. 

But here is a little sneak peek:

What's that? It looks like a giant misshaped party dot and stick?

Close, but not quite.

During the past 18 months, we have been running our business from home. This worked at first. We learned that we can store 20,000 PartyDots in our hall closet! But then we added Sparkle Ribbon to the line and needed to clear out the second closet for storage. 

We also had a pretty good sized office space in our bedroom.  However, it is impossible for me to sleep when I am laying in bed looking at the filing left to be done, and calls to be made as soon as I wake up.  My solution was to put the bed in the middle of the bedroom to separate work and sleep space. Patrick thought I was nuts. He told me that no bed belongs in the middle of the room unless it spins and there are mirrors on the ceiling.  He let me do it anyways. No wonder I married this man. 

The business continued to grow and now it wasn't just hard to sleep because I was looking at work, it was because the bed was covered in work. As we built up the back wall with a second set of shelves we lost our shipping counter and the bed had become our new shipping area. Occasionally,  I would gently push everything to his side of the bed and crawl under the covers and pull the blanket up over my head complaining that I should be going to bed with my husband not work.  He would pack orders around me.  

The business continued to take over  and soon the dining room table and half of the basement were also sacrificed to the business.  Finally I said, ENOUGH. It's time to move into a bigger space. Pat said, duh. 

Ever try to get a loan when you own your own small business? It might have been easier IF we actually paid ourselves. But we don't.  Everything goes back into the business. So we were stuck. 

Luckily (?!?) my dad has been retired for a year and my mom is about to follow. They wanted to sell their house and get something smaller. They thought, then they started to look and realized they wanted to have the same size house but to spend less money. Don't we all?  

They approached us about related living. They said if we go in together then we can share a larger home with separate living spaces, they get the financing, we will both pay less and they will help out with the shipping and the kids. Okay, maybe I made up that last part. They haven't exactly said they would help with the shipping and the kids but they'll get on board. After all my dad's favorite things to do since he has retired are go to the grocery store and go the post office.  

I asked Pat how he felt and he said what new husband doesn't want to move in with his in-laws? Okay, maybe he didn't exactly say that either. He said your parents, big office and pool. Big office and pool. Pool. Let me see the pool again? Okay, I can do this. 

But will we ever have time to swim in it?

Maybe not, but it will be incredible for all the new videos we can't wait to shoot!  (Get your mind out of the gutter!) Party Dots in pools, sparkle ribbon with lanterns hanging from the balcony, oh the fun things we can do.......... does this mean the pool is a write off?