Newsletter

march 2010

 Dear Friends;

What a couple of months this has been. I am sure you noticed the newsletter was not updated on the web for February……well that was only the tip of the iceberg! If you are on our email list, you know that January 12th, my father who is approaching 95 years of age, was scheduled for surgery. He has a tumor of the parotid (salivary) gland. It had been biopsied twice and the results were benign both times. However, the day of the surgery, we were told the tumor was in fact, malignant.  The surgeon said he had only seen this rare tumor one other time, five years ago. The anesthesiologist thought the surgery was too risky (that’s a long story for another time), so the surgery did not happen. That same day, we were referred to an oncologist at 10:30am who sent us to a radiation oncologist at 1:30pm. This was a very long day. Ultimately, it was decided that Dad would have daily radiation to shrink the tumor which was now enormous! We made daily trips to Fresno for treatment for four weeks.

Now to add to the story…..the day of the non-surgery, the store computer died a sudden death. Melissa didn’t even want to tell me as the day was already pretty bad. This turn of events started the saga of the computer…..we paid a guy to extract data from the hard drive. I ordered a new computer which came without the operating system we were promised……back it went. I went locally and bought another computer which seemed fine. Now, I had to upgrade both of my QuickBooks programs because the one I was running would not be compatible with Windows 7. (Can you say $800?) Then, the new computer didn’t seem to want to turn on. Well….after spending time with the tech person who speaks another language, and being told all was OK…I took the computer home to load some programs……..black screen! The thing would not turn on at all. Back we went…..computer #3! Yesterday, Melissa and I finally got everything loaded and up to date and working…….6 weeks of stress!

Back to Dad…..the weekend of his final radiation treatment, I became concerned that he was dehydrating as he was having a lot of trouble eating and drinking due to the radiation. Monday morning, I called an ambulance and he went to the hospital. He was put on strong antibiotics as he had an infection in the tumor area. Seven days later he was transferred to the skilled nursing facility in Oakhurst. He was there 6 hours before being transported back to Fresno to the hospital. The nurse in Oakhurst thought he was bleeding and was at risk. He was re-admitted in Fresno for observation…….meanwhile, his Oakhurst bed was given away! Soooooo, he is now in a facility in Fresno waiting for another spot in Oakhurst. I have made daily trips to Fresno for six weeks…..so if you see me in the store and I seem a bit punchy, you will know why. (And, just so you know, punchy is contagious…..Melissa has been working 6 days a week and she is punchy, too!)

During all of this trauma and drama, Melissa was the glue that kept the store running. While we were going for radiation, I was rarely at the store. Now, even though I go to Fresno daily, I have been able to get to the store in the afternoon. Hopefully, once the facility in Oakhurst comes through for us, I will be in the store full time. I can’t tell you how grateful I am to have had Melissa and Robin represent me at the CHA show, and to have Melissa keep things running smoothly under very difficult conditions.

I cannot express my gratitude for the many emails and messages wishing us well. It really makes a huge difference, especially on the toughest days…….thanks everyone.

On to happier topics! The sign-ups for The Great Yosemite Stamp Escape are going well. There are still a few spaces left, and we have people we have not heard from who were mentioned on registration forms as ‘Friends you are attending with….” If you know of someone who is planning to come, please have them call us so we can save their space. By the way, final payments are now due if you only paid an initial deposit. We are really looking forward to this event. The teachers are beginning to prepare their class projects and things are falling into place. Don’t miss this fun weekend……we all deserve some fun, right?

Even though I did not attend CHA, I have placed lots of orders, and will be adding more in the next couple of weeks. Several orders have already been received…more about that inWhat’s New?

Many of you have joined us on the Cat’s Meow Forum. I think we have about 100 photos of projects in the gallery already. If you are not a member, send me an email and we will send you an invitation to join or go to www.catsmeowstamps.ning.com. This is Melissa’s project and I think it is really turning out well.

I hope to see you soon……Happy Spring!

Sharon

                                                                          What’s New?

Some of these things came in at the end of January, but since the computer crash took out the newsletter publishing program, I’ll include them.

We got four great paper collections from 3 Bugs in a Rug……Savannah (princess theme), Animal Stackers (great for boys), The Great Outdoors, and Little Chick in time for Easter.

We also got a couple of really nice Shamrock/Celtic themed papers fro My Little Yellow Bicycle….we really like this company!

You will love all of the fun Martha Stewart Punches. We have many coordinating corner and edger punches like Iron Gate, Lady Bug, Pansy, and more. I especially like the dimensional Water Lily punch, too.

In time for Valentines Day, but not specifically ‘Valentine-y’, came a collection from Savvy Stamps. I thought their sample board was really beautiful. We also had a very special Valentine board from Stampendous…..both companies took care to feature stamped images that could be used at other times.

I am sure you have seen the “What’s in the box?” collection from Memory Box. The papers and stamps were a very special collection. The soft colors and whimsical images have been very popular. We have another collection for Easter coming soon….check out the class schedule to see a sneak peek.

We have ordered a beautiful wood mounted stamp collection from Hero Arts that was shown in their show supplement. Since we get to order from their new catalog prior to the show, they always have a little something special for us at CHA.

You will love the new colors of Smooch, the metallic paint from Clearsnap. Robin and Melissa took a mini-class from Stephanie Scheetz at the Clearsnap booth and Robin will teach a class this month using the Smooch technique.

This week, we received all twelve new colors of  the Tim Holtz Distress Inks. These colors are very fun and different from the original colors.

Coming soon are new papers from Bo Bunny, Staz-0n inks in metallic colors, new Cuttlebug embossing folders, and new Tim Holtz embossing folders that can be used in your Cuttlebug.

We’ll keep you posted!

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