TV Free Trips with Children

Do you have snacks? Pajamas? Blankies? Toothbrushes? Cash? Full tank of gas? Clean underwear? Time to hit the road for the holidays! Traveling can be stressful whether by car, train, or plane. Here are some favorite My Toy Garden tips to make travel time so much fun you might actully forget to turn on the DVD player in the car which I'm sure you only use on long trips anyway right? Enjoy and please pop over to our Facebook page with other great ideas that might help another fellow traveler!

1. Magnets are the best! We carry magnetic playsets that are perfect for travel. They feature a background scene for pirates, paper dolls, forest friends and more. The pieces stimulate the imagination for hours of on the go pretend play. My favorite is one with the tails of various cars and license plates to match for each one found along the way! Great geography lesson as well! Do you have magnetic pieces but not on the go board for them? Grab a pizza or cake pan and voila! Now you do!

2. Felt boards are another option much like magnetic boards that work great. We carry sets with rescue heros, horse back riding, Cinderella, a vet's office and other fun themes. Grab the handle and off you go!

3. Wrap small gifts and snacks to be unwrapped at various points of a long trip. Every 30 minutes or X number of miles, the child gets to open a little goodie that will entertain them for the next leg of the adventure. My Toy Garden has lots of goodies that will work great!

4. Map It! For an older child, print of a map showing point A to point B and let them highlight the trip as they pass by towns. Talk about fractions..we're 1/4 of the way there!

5. Create! Arts and Crafts are great for travel! Our Stephen Joseph art portfolios hold a pad of paper, crayons and pencils perfect for out and about art inspiration. Several other projects like the Thread It one pictured below would keep the brain busy and growing and free of a zombie induced TV coma. We also carry dot to dot books from 1 to 10 and ones for adults featuring up to 1400 dots in one puzzle! So addicting!

6. Write About It! On the way home capture the memories of the trip in a souvenior book. You'll love our 3 Bitty Books featuring a blank hard cover and blank pages ready to record the tales of this year's holidays. 3 books for $9.99 makes them a fun thank you to send to your host!

7. Beam Me Up! If traveling at night, bring along a small flashlight...key word there..small. :-) Kids love flashlights and they come in so handy when you need to pee in the middle of the night in a strange house!

8. Music soothes the savage beast is more than just an old saying. Just Sat. night, I calmed Nicholas down on the ride home from downtown by singing Christmas songs. "More sing Rudolph pweese!" Throw a CD in and put on your own car concert. We once also passed over an hour of a trip making up a song using words we read out the window. Hilarious! Our Tell Tale game would be great for that!

9. Emergency kit of post its, roll of tape, pipe cleaners, a deck of cards, a hunk of aluminum foil, a few books they've never seen, finger puppers and a pirate eye patch or other dress up items. When at your wit's end, before hitting the power button on the DVD player, hand your child one of the items and peace will soon follow.

What else do you do? Pop over to our My Toy Garden facebook page and help others! Click here for the My Toy Garden Facebook page.

Toys the Play with Children or Children that Play with Toys?

Which of the above categories do you find most of the toys in your house or on your holiday shopping list? Are they electronic ones that flash, beep and tell your child what button to push? Are they ones that foster creativity, problem solving and self expression?

As the grown ups in this world, we have the great joy and great responsibility to help guide our younger adventurers on a path of learning that can be programmed or packed with possibilities.

See Janet's Top 5 Toy Selection Suggestions to help you this busy shopping season!

Have another to add? Please share either in an email to me or on our Facebook page. Not a fan on Facebook yet? Over 400 fans in our first two months have been having a great time with sneak peeks, inside scoop and more! Come join the fun!

Janet's Top 5 Toy Selection Suggestions:

1. Durability - A toy should last and last and last. Look for items that can be passed down to younger siblings or to friends. When you buy an inexpensive toy that breaks in a few days, you teach your child that things are disposable and easily replaceable. When you invest in a toy that will last and last, you teach them to value quality. Not to mention the money it saves you in the long run.

2. Open Ended - A toy that can grow with your child is worth a ton! Finding a simple open ended toy that can be used in one way at 2 years old and another at 3 years old and yet another way at 4 years old fosters creativity. It also saves you money and eliminates clutter in your house. Why buy 5 toys that do 1 thing each when you can buy 1 toy that does 5 things?

3. Obvious Completion - Sometimes children need just the opposite of open ended toys. They need ones that have an obvious end to them. Click the last piece into place of a puzzle. Complete the last step of a craft project. Play a board game to the end. Starting, doing and finishing something builds confidence and gives a sense of pride worthy of a high five or a pat on the back! Perseverence is a great gift to give a child.

4. Requires Interaction - A toy that requires a child to move, ponder, have a conversation with another human being scores extra points! Great toys are ones that promote exercise and/or conversations with others. Our children look to us as role models on how to connect with others. Toys can open doors to lots of healthy relationship opportunities.

5. Be Fun! They are toys after all!

What?! I only clicked a little....

Oh, that'd be great for Sam! Click! Love that for Grandma! Click! Awwww, that's sooo cute for Sophie! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! There, holiday shopping all done..whew! That sure was easy!

Zoom...off goes your dollars from your bank account to the online retailer's account in a bank far, far away never to be seen in your community ever again.

Or...if you will.....one stop shopping! Enter the mega world full of this, that and the other thing. You fill your cart with goodies for beneath the tree. No staff member acknowledges you or can be found when you need them. But no matter, you are done with your holiday shopping...whew...

Zoom...off goes your dollars from your bank account to the corporate office in the land of far, far away. Some of it trickles back to your community in the form of employee paychecks, sales tax paid to the state that funds community projects and offices, and property taxes paid in your community.

Or....one last trip with me if you will...you visit 3 locally owned stores who carry a wide variety of merchandise. You are greeted with a smile, by name. You are personally guided to just the perfect gifts...things only found in special stores like these. Your gifts are gift wrapped for free. You are helped to your car. Your shopping is done stress free. You know everyone will rave about their gifts.

Zoom...your dollars fly from your account to a local bank account that supports the local community. It goes to the retailer's account who lives in your neighborhood, pays community taxes, eats at the local restaurant, gets their haircut at the local salon, shops at the local grocery store, donates to the local charities, hires local employees who do the same local spending.

Where you spend your dollars matters...tremendously! With each local purchase, you send your dollars swirling around the other local businesses you drive past every day. With each local purchase you make, you keep the charm in your community. With each local purchase you make, you nurture a flicker of light that one day will shine brightly in what is now a vacant storefront. You make a difference one dollar at a time.

My Toy Garden Makes Grown Woman Cry

"Have You Ever Had a Grown Woman Cry in your Store?" she asked.

Ellie continued, "I am freaking out in your store!" She had come by My Toy Garden one day last week to talk to me about her line of reusable ties, EvREwares, that I am bringing into the store. While waiting for me to be available, she wandered the store and found much more than she imagined. She exclaimed, "Have you ever had a grown woman cry in your store?" She went on to explain that her son was on the autism spectrum and how she had looked and looked for tools for him to use with little luck. The store she said was packed with things for special needs families AND at affordable prices.

It was definitely one of my most proud moments so far in the store! You see, I was a classroom teacher for 17 years working with children of all ages. Working with special needs families has been a passion of mine for a very long time. As I poured over catalogs over the summer shopping for just the right things, I looked for items that, on the surface, would just look like fun but to the eyes of a parent or teacher of special needs children, they'd see so much more. If these families can find items, they usually are very expensive. I knew I could help! Ellie saw this hidden layer....completely and fell in love with My Toy Garden! You will too!

She later posted this on our Facebook Fan page. " My son and I played with Zeebeez all night! This is THE best thing ever!!! It is perfect for the hidden purpose of strengthening his muscles. His hands are so sore today! Thanks for showing me this. It's AMAZING.

The Zeebeez have been a huge hit. Not only fun but great for building hand strength giving fine motor skills a huge boost! Know who loves it even more than the kids do? Grandparents! Arthritis begins to set in and Zeebeez is just the thing to help keep those hand muscles moving! You'll find Zeebeez in our Active Play Pathway of Wonder. One of seven areas at My Toy Garden to explore, be inspired by and make a difference for your family!

Playfully,

Toylady Janet Pillsbury

My Toy Garden Breaks Up Families

From our first newsletter that came out last week.....for the full scoop, be sure to be added to our customer database and become a Facebook fan!

Does your family look like everyone elses?

"Let's break up the families!" I told my staff member Eileen. "I want you to take these doll house sets of familes we have and set them free." I had been looking at our shelf of dollhouse familes and thinking whose family really looks like these? Are all families all of the same color? Do they all have a mom, dad, boy and girl? I know I have many friends with all sorts of families and I suspect you do to. I want My Toy Garden to represent and welcome families of all types so we broke up the families. We opened up the boxes and introduced them to each other. On your next visit, please look for the teacup of families and enjoy choosing a family that looks just like yours whatever that may be!

Pretend play is so important for both boys and girls! Playing with people figurines allows them to mimic what they see and hear fostering problem solving and healthy expression of emotions. If your child is struggling with something, break out the figurines or stuffed animals and through play invite conversations to happen that might not happen otherwise. My counselor friends will tell you this is one of their best tools!

How culturally diverse are your child's toys? To broaden their understanding of the world, introduce them to various cultures through books and otther toys like our teapot family members. You'll find figurines and stuffed animals in our Creative Expression Pathway of Wonder. One of seven areas at My Toy Garden to explore, be inspired by and make a difference for your family!

Playfully,

Toylady Janet Pillsbury

Fun with new Friends!

What a fun, crazy whirlwind the last few weeks have been! We just celebrated being open for 2 weeks and have met so many nice new friends already. It's fun to see people enjoying the space that I envisioned for so long. The store is filled with laughter, small children vrooming cars, and oldies music to enjoy. It's been all I dreamed of an more! People comment on the wide variety of items they've never seen before and how affordable the price points on. Moms have been in buying Nanoblocks and Crazy Aaron's Thinking Putty to mail to college students. Preschoolers have been in to enjoy or literacy area.

Several customers have already started their holiday shopping with a few that are already done. Have you started to think about your list? Christmas is 12 weeks away! Yikes! No worries though...this year, you have My Toy Garden to help!

Please visit the new website as well! It will become more and more populated in the next week or two. Many of our items will be viewable on the website. If you are too far away to come visit in person, be sure to call and we'll make arrangements to ship items to you.

Heads up for you insiders...I'm working on a Shopping Spree for Educators program. I was a classroom teacher for 17 years and, goodness knows, how many thousands I spent out of my own pocket on things for my students. I want to help educators in Carmel enjoy great new tools for their classrooms. Stay tuned for more details!

Also mark your calendar for Thurs. Oct. 6 at 10:30 for our very first storytime! It'll be an extra special event called Read for the Record where we will be joining many other across the country to set a record for the most people enjoying the same book on the same day. The book this year is the very exciting new addition to the Llama Llama books...Llama Llama Red Pajama! PJs welcome!

Last, you will definitely want to join us for Neighborhood Toy Store Day on Sat. Nov. 12 from 10-4 pm! We'll be featuring a Spot It contest with prized for 3 different age groups, in store craft activities and other great fun! Save the date and we'll see you in the garden!

12 days to go!

The calendar turns to September on Thursday and then the countdown really speeds up! We are on track for a very fun grand opening on Sat. Sept. 10 from 10-4 pm. Lots of people have been stopping by to say hello and press their noses against the windows. As the toys come out of boxes and the space fills with more and more color, I'm sure that will happen even more. Our first two part time employees, Eileen and Jordan, started today and I know they are going to be a great fit! Welcome! They will be on hand to help with the Grand Opening which will include face painting and a balloon maker that is amazing! Be sure to save the date! Or, even more fun, come volunteer that day! We could use help with managing the arts and crafts area, wrapping gifts and more. Come be part of history!

Another fun thing you can do to join the fun is take an hour and pull out your arts and crafts odds and ends and see what fun flowers you can come up with. I'm starting to collect flowers that will be displayed in the front windows of the store and in vases in the main entry way. Donation of vases are gladly accepted too. :-) Here's a few ideas to get your started!

The main thing right now is boxes, boxes, boxes and more boxes full of lots of fun things. So far, I've opened beautiful costumes, gorgeous wooden puzzles, root beer chap stick and clay so soft you won't be able to put it down! I so want to open them all but am making sure all the accounting pieces are in place in Quickbooks...so proud of all I've learned with that! Also getting my POS system up and running and ready to print all the price tags. That should be done by Tuesday and then it's print, print, print, unbox and fill the shelves! I pinch myself every day that we are so lucky to have this opportunity and so blessed to have the love and support of so many! A big thank you to the Martin family for finding and getting ready the bench and wheelbarrow. They are perfect!! See you at My Toy Garden!

Halfway through August

We are halfway through August and things are looking good! I've picked out the signature wrapping paper, have just a small handful of orders left to place...sooo excited about that! Contractors will be out of there by this weekend and then I can start unpacking the boxes and boxes of toys that have started arriving at My Toy Garden. The first 2 staff members have been hired! Welcome Jordan and Eileen! So much done and so much to do! My biggest challenges next are learning Quickbooks and my POS system. With ordering being done...or very close to it, now I can focus on those areas. Wahoo!!!

We are set for our Grand Opening for Sat. Sept. 10 from 10-4. Volunteers are needed that day and the weeks before to get ready. Are you going to be one of the lucky ones to be part of history? You know you want to! I plan to start working full time out of the store next Tuesday and would love to have you pop by and help us get ready!

Final 2 pics of mural....

The My Toy Garden mural is complete!

A big thank you to my friend Marta for coming down for 2 days and helping with the My Toy Garden mural! Check out the pics and makes plans to come see it in person Sat., Sept. 10 from 10-4 during our Grand Opening. There will be facepainting, balloon creations, a Spot It contest and more!

Green Grass in the heat of summer!

Come visit My Toy Garden where the grass is green all year round! I'm loving the flooring I picked out!

It's getting colorful in here!

Here are some of my favorite before and after pics of the buildout. I am loving the colors I picked out....Daffodil yellow, Beyond Blue and Electric Lime. Buildout has gone very smoothly so far with the exception of finding a tangle of electrical wires in the ceiling that had to be sorted out. My contractors, Jon and Carl, have been amazing to work with and I'd highly recommend them! The new colors are bringing lots of window peekers. :-)

The floor is also installed as of last night and it looks amazing! You won't believe you're not walking on real grass. I'll post pics of that next. Tomorrow I work with the movers to move all the fixture over to the store. Monday I start work on the mural for the arches with my friend Marta and then a week from Monday the first UPS delivery of boxes and boxes of toys arrives! Wahoo!! We are still on track for a Sept. 10 opening. I'll need volunteers that day to help everything go smoothly. Please email me at toyladyjanet@gmail.com if you are interested. I'm also looking for a great face painter too.

Ordering is still a work in progress but many more pieces have been clicked into place including dolls, trains and many adorable art kits. I've also orders some quirky impulse items like bacon bandaids, refrigerator mustaches and brain gelatin molds. What a fun job! Most orders to come this weekend with a goal to have 99% placed by Monday.

I also installed the POS (Point of Sale) system this week and am beginning to learn that new language along with beginning to learn Quickbooks. This is definitely the biggest project I've ever tackled but I'm ready! Bring on the fun! Bring on the work! Bring on the joy! I'm so happy to have so many of you already following the adventure on Facebook fan page... THE place for quick updates, free gift certificates and have a say in some decisions I'm making. Hop on over and join the many fans already there! Thanks for your support and excitement!

Demolition Days!

Oh wow! What a delightful disaster the store is right now. The contractor and his crew have swooped in and been having a grown man's dream of a time....demolishing walls, tearing down ceilings, ripping up flooring.... There are wires and lights hanging everywhere and the place looks a mess and yet, I love it!! With the walls torn down, I can really begin to see it more clearly. I sat in the space for 2 hours last night, alone, in the quiet and visualized it. Piece by piece they came into focus...what fixture will go where...what fun products will get to play on them....where the checkout counter will go....where we'll sit and read stories and laugh together.....where the window displays will go.... wow. Someone really needs to pinch me as I feel like the luckiest lady right now. I'm totally buried in my to do list and yet wake with a bounce and a smile and can't wait to get to work.

Lily is having fun circling things in catalogs she wants me to get "one for the store and one for our house." She has planned where she wants her desk to go in my office. She is such a great little helper. Nicholas wishes he were old enough to help with the demo part which I'm sure he'd be a pro at. It's going to be fun to have them with me at the store once we get opened and settled into some routines. For now, we are making the most of the few days we have left together before they both start full time child care. I'll miss them but am very ready to return to a more traditional working schedule. They will have a great time with the 2 great child care providers I found. Nicholas went to visit for the first time last week and didn't fuss a second when I left and wasn't ready to leave when I came back. Moms always have a harder time than they do, don't they?

Ordering..um...yeah...I've gotten a few more done and am totally determined to get the rest knocked out this week. I have stacks and stacks of folders with catalogs and orders forms around the floor by my desk and it's time for them to be ordered and refiled. I will...I will...I will....

Meanwhile, the contractor says he'll be painting this week, laying the flooring Saturday (sooooo excited about seeing the vinyl grass flooring I've picked out!) and we'll install fixtures next week. Will all the Border's fixtures fit? Stay tuned to see and possibly pick up the extras for your projects! Fastest way to get the news now is to become a Fan on Facebook of My Toy Garden. Pics of the demo are there along with some great conversations! Come join the fun!!

Meet the My Toy Garden butterfly!

Keys..glorious keys!

Oh what a happy thing a little key can be! I now have in my possession a key to the front door of our future...literally. How exciting and scary and so many emotions wrapped in one. Lily and I met Jon our contractor at the store today to mark the walls that will be coming down this week. What a big difference it'll make to open up the space...can't wait to see and show you pics! We had a few minutes to wait after Jon left and before Chris the sign guy came so we played fox in a hollow in some builtin cabinets and then hide and seek running and filling the new space with laughter already. All is as it should be. Life is good. Very, very good!

Other news, the logo is done! I'll post a pic next for you to see. I love it!!! The POS system is about to be ordered and my first Mac purchase for a cash register is coming soon. Need to clean my computer a bit and install Quickbooks. Any QB pros out there who want to help with that? :-) I started the My Toy Garden Facebook page and got 86 fans in the first 24 hours..wow! Soooo thankful for all the support from everyone!

Ordering is coming slower than I'd like. I have 2 days planned to sit down this week and knock several more out. Who knew spending money could be so hard? Struggling with decision about what trains to get....what dolls...what puzzles? Sooo many great choices! Dress up clothes are almost done with some adorable fairy outfits on their way with sparkly silver shoes. Dress up clothes for boys too with firefighters, pirates and reversible capes with knight on one side and a dragon on the other. Adorable!! Please join the FB page to have a say in other items to be ordered in the next 2 weeks!

Off to the races now..well, actually bed... Tomorrow is a new chapter in the adventure!

Can July please slow down....

Alright, the days are flying by much too fast! I feel like one of those circus performers who tries to spin a dozen plates on the end of a dozen spindly poles. I'm loving every minute of it and am happy when I get one plate spinning after the other. Some are bound to hit the ground but that's as expected. One plate bouncing to the ground this week is our build out start date. I was originally hoping to be in on Monday of this week but that changed to Monday of next week and now that is literally up in the air. The property where we are leasing is changing owners and the closing date keeps getting bumped. No closing = no keys = no buildout happening. Closing is scheduled for this Friday. Please visualize with me that this date sticks and we get in there next week. I can't wait to start tearing things apart AND moving the growing pile of things out of my house!

Another falling plate is my inventory orders. Dang...what a huge puzzle! I have over 250 catalogs now each with their own language and reps to answer questions and cryptic price sheets. I'm slowing figuring it out and while super excited to have such a mountain of great choices, it's a tad overwhelming too. Thank you to those who have come for playgroups to look at catalogs and give you input! Tis much appreciated! I'm determined to stay chained to my desk tonight until I'm ready to start cranking out orders tomorrow. What a sad problem to have money to spend and have a hard time starting to spend it right? :-)

One plate that is happily spinning away is the logo....sooo excited about this one! It is completely finished and I'm just waiting for my graphic designer to send me the files so I can share it with you. It's exactly what I envisioned....perfect! Meanwhile, I'm working on several other pieces from Quickbooks...yikes..., credit card processing, insurance, POS system, phone system for the store...oh, got the new store phone #....317-571-1234....love it!!! Off to tackle the how to order inventory system so I can go to bed eventually.....must spend money...must spend money...must spend money.... what a fun adventure I'm on!

The last edge piece clicked into place today!

Don't you love when you do a big puzzle and you click that last edge piece into place? Such a satisfying feeling isn't it? That's just what happened to day with the giant jigsaw puzzle that is My Toy Garden!!! Wahoo!!!! Today we signed the papers with the banks and now have official permission to go on a shopping spree!!! Oh yeah!!! Tons of hours of work have gone into reaching this point and I'm so ready to start filling in the middle of the puzzle with the store buildout (set for mid July), inventory orders, fixtures installed, decorating the store, setting up my POS and Quickbooks and whatever surprised and challenges come next! Major celebrating happening at the Pillsbury house this week!!!

ASTRA - Way better than EIEIO!

ASTRA....now what could that mean? I just spent 4 days surrounded by ASTRA folks having a blast in California. There were ASTRA top 10 toys and ASTRA vendors with mountains of things to delight and amuse. ASTRA seminars packed with exciting ideas I can't wait to implement! Have you guessed what ASTRA stands for? No? It's something for you to remember and check out in your own backwoods or while you are traveling. It stands for American Specialty Toys Retail Association and what an amazing group they are! Look for an ASTRA store near you for a fun adventure! Their help in getting My Toy Garden off the ground has been immeasurable. So many retailers have spent time answering my questions and giving me more to think about and plan for. The website gives me peeks into the hottest toys on their shelves and what's to come next. I had a blast in California for the annual convention! It was their biggest and best yet with close to 300 vendors there. I wandered the aisles of Marketplace for 2 days feeling like I'd just eaten a 16 layer chocolate cake by myself. I can't wait to start placing orders for many of the things I saw there that will be so much fun for you to play with!

I also met a great new friend, Heather, from Colorado who works at GrandRabbits Toys. (My MI friends will understand why I can't pronounce that right.) She and I seem to be long lost siblings of some kind. We had so much in common and laughed a ton. The last night was on our own so we decided to rent a car and drive to Laguna Beach and eat at Las Brisas, an cliffside ocean view restaurant wrapped in a rose garden. As we were getting ready, the car rental guy I'd befriended a few days early on my one day early arrival gypsy day, called to asked if we really wanted a 4-door or if a convertible would be okay? Okay? Okay! Wahoo!! A silver Chevrolet 200 convertible with 2,000 miles on it pulled up to the front of the Hilton and he handed us the keys! It didn't matter that we were a bit cold, we cranked that top down and off we went! Such a fun way to wrap up a great trip!

Want to peek inside the store? Come on inside!

Drum roll puhleeze!!! We signed the lease this week to what will become My Toy Garden!!! Such an exciting step!! Now for the bank to ask for their last piece of paper and we can get the bank papers signed. Getting the lease signed was a big step toward getting the bank papers signed. Then it's is a major shopping spree just ahead! Thank you for all the kind emails and phone calls of support. It means alot! I am off to a national convention of toy store owners called ASTRA for a few days and can't wait to meet everyone, learn a ton and sort through the puzzle of inventory!

Ready for some fun? Want to peek inside the store as it looks today? Come on inside! It used to be a design center so it has some great built ins that will be fun to work with. My contractor is planning to start demo on some walls July 5 with an eye toward a Sept. 10 grand opening. The fun is revving up!

Pics from Francois' visit

Here are a few pics from when Blue Orange Rep Francois personally delivered a catalog to our house and stayed to play with us. Lily loved Gobblet Gobblers, CooCoo the Clown and more!

Check, check, check and a Frenchman!

How much fun would it be if you found a catalog of products you loved and you called to get your very own copy of it and instead of them mailing you one, they sent a Frenchman to your house to not only deliver it but also bring all the games in it? That's just what happened to me this week! I love the Blue Orange games and can't wait to play them with you at My Toy Garden! I realized I did not have their catalog and emailed to get one. Instead of one appearing in my mailbox, I got a call from Francois saying he happened to be in the area and would love to come show me the games. Works for me! Francois was charming and sat under our wonderful shade tree in our backyard with Lily and I for over 2 hours playing all the games. I have to admit that I did have to translate for Lily quite abit. It was fun to see her puzzle over what he was trying to say sometimes. :-) Make sure to be there for our grand opening in September and meet Francois yourself. He believes he should be able to come back to join in the celebration.

The week was also full of other meetings with toy reps...a total of 16 hours looking at catalogs and playing with things. Such a tough part of the job....really is though...there are so many great choices and trying to keep track of what you saw where and who to order it from and how to order it is an organization challenge. I'm up for it! My Corley friends know how I whipped those science materials into shape, know I can do this too! It's been great meeting the toy reps and learning so much from them!

Biggest news of the week is that the two obstacles I was chomping on are done...wahoo!! I've found a delightful place for Nicholas to be loved on come August....Miss Sarah...will quickly become part of the family I suspect. Thanks Danielle for the introduction! I had no idea that was one of the reasons you came into my life!

The other one is...drum roll puhleeze.....we have a lease!! Wahoo! It's printed on my desk, signed and ready to deliver to the landlord Monday. The location we ended up with is on Carmel Drive just west of Keystone next to McNamara Floral. It's going to be perfect! I can't wait for my contractor to get in there and start working his magic! Opening in September is still on the plans. It's going to be a very busy July and August I suspect but so worth it!

Puzzles and Locations

Is it possible to move at a lightning pace and a snail pace? Seems to be we've got a foot in both worlds. Somethings are going fast like securing a mountain of fixtures for the store from Borders. We so appreciate those that came to help! Thanks Charity, Mary and Stan! We spent 10 hours a week ago Sunday taking things apart, another 2 hours Monday. Tuesday we spent 5 hours working with movers to fill 2 10x 20 storage units with goodies. I watched them unload into the 2nd unit whispering please let it fit...please let it fit and was tickled when the last bookcase clicked into the very last spot perfectly! It was like putting the last piece in a 1,000 piece puzzle....fabulous! I can't wait to get them out and start setting them up and filling them with all kinds of fun things!

The logo is in the works with a great conversation with my logo designer last week. Can't wait to see what she comes up with!

I met with my first toy rep last week who brought me goodies and candy. Something I think I can get used to. :-) I definitely see that I will need to do my research about what companies I will order from and not rely on my rep for totally accurate info. I've decided that learning about toy companies and products is like learning Latin. A tad overwhelming and confusing at first but with one new word and one new phrase, it begins to make more sense very slowly.

Two big tasks on my plate at the moment....1) Finding a great childcare for Nicholas starting in August. Anyone know of a great place in Carmel, let me know! 2) Making a final decision on location. After a few frustrating conversations with the leasing agent at our first choice place, I decided to look at options again. I did end up finding a great possible other location that might come available June 1. I need to get the lease signed very soon so we can close on our loan but am at a standstill until the first with it. What will be will be and I'm working to be patient and listen to what path is best for us. Will it be Choice A in a popular shopping center near a Panera Bread and visible only from the parking lot in the center? Or Choice B on the north side of the same shopping center with great street visibility and 200 sq ft larger? Alot depends on the leasing agent and how flexible they are willing to be. Decisions, decisions, decisions...... Loving every minute though!

Green Light!!!

Oh happy dance day! I got a call this afternoon from one of the banks I met with last week saying, "Are you sitting down? We got this worked out and the loan is a go." Yes! Yes! A bank said yes to our loan application. Big exhale now and time to roll up my sleeves. I'm ready! We should close on the loan in the next few weeks and then time to flip the switches for logo design, website development, lease negotiation, inventory orders, working with a business consultant and the huge to do list to be done in time for a September opening. I'm so excited! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you Mr. Banker man for calling with such good news on a Friday afternoon making my smile extra big for the weekend.

The other exciting news is a springboard from the sad news about so many Borders stores closing. I love Borders! I've spent many, many hours in the stores and yes, have bought many, many books from them. We have books in every room of our house. Online shopping is such a convenience to be sure and I've certainly clicked my share of "add to cart" and "submit order" buttons. I've tried, as I've learned more, to support local businesses. If I can't find what I want at a local store than I still support a brick and mortar store. Research from the 3/50 Project says that when you shop at a local store, $68 of your $100 purchase stays in your community. When you shop at a national chain, $43 stays in your community and when you shop online $0 comes back to your community. Borders sadly is, in part, a casualty of the online trend in shopping.

Wait...exciting news is what I said....oh yeah...right...I love, love, loved Borders! I lived in Ann Arbor, MI, their world headquarters for several years and enjoyed their corporate building, knew many people who worked there. Very sad to see it struggling right now...but.... exciting news for My Toy Garden is that I have bought almost all of the fixture I need from the Borders a mile from my house that is closing on Sunday. I spent about 20% of what I planned to spend on fixtures and am sooo excited!!! They will look fabulous in the space and I love, love, love that a piece of Borders will live on in My Toy Garden bringing joy to many others for a long time to come. Goodbye Borders....hello My Toy Garden!

***Shameless, plea for help....If you love to take things apart, please come join Tim and I on this Sunday at Borders to disassemble the pieces and get them ready to move. We'd love the extra help! Thank you!

Here a bank...there a bank...

I bought pantyhose...yep, time to dress like a grown up a bit and go meet the bankers. I met with two banks last week and got a very positive response to both the concept and the business plan itself from both banks. They felt I'd done my research well and communicated it well. Now to take it to their number crunchers and see if we can work together. Meanwhile, I have appointments with 4 more banks this week. I've made a list of all the lucky financial possibilities and am going to work through them until I find a yes. I know there's one out there and I'll keep looking behind trees and under rocks until I find it. Any and all positive thoughts that we find it sooner rather than later would be great!

I also had some fun last week and went to the Border's a mile south of our house and couldn't resist buying a few store fixtures that are being clearanced. They will be perfect for the store and I can't wait to get a definite yes from the bank and go get a few more! Love finding great deals like that! So sorry to see Border's go but good to know some of their fixtures will be loved in a very fun setting for years to come. Now to figure out how to snag a piece of that cool space carpet for my science corner...hmmm...

Business Plan done! On to the banks this week!

I'm doing a major happy dance tonight! I just finished the draft of the business plan!!!! Wahoo!!!!! Three months of research and reading and asking and listening and learning and I'm done with this step! C'mon dance with me....share the excitement!!! Now to have a final pow wow with the husband who I know will have lots of questions and I say bring 'em on and then meet with the CPA tomorrow to have a last look and then on to the banks!! With a good head wind and sunshine in the forecast (in my mind anyway....), here's visualizing an official green light on the financial end of this project in the next week or two! Please visualize with me....the banks will love the business plan and be happy to loan us the money so we can make a difference in the lives of families....repeat....the banks will love..... Thank you for all the calls and emails of support!

Crunch Week

It is crunch week here wrapping up the details of the business plan and getting ready to start talking to financial people. My goal is to have the business plan done by Sunday and start getting the finances in place next week. If you have not already taken the market survey, please pop over and do that quickly as I'll be closing it in the next few days. I've been happily meeting with and learning about so many aspects of the business including logo design, website development, contractors, fixtures, signage, insurance policies, utility estimates, business consultants, CPAs, inventory vendors and so much more. It really is lots of fun to explore and I'm excited to get business plan done. I have found THE cutest vinyl flooring that looks like real grass! So cool! I plan to use it in the floor of the activities room where we'll do crafts, science experiments and host birthday parties. I'll also do some burlap trees like I made in my daughter's bedroom for a whimsical touch as well Sooo many ideas bursting in my head. How about this one.....

Playgroups for various parenting groups? I know as a SAHM it is hard to make friends that you have things in common with. I'm thinking maybe I'll host playgroups for various parenting groups....a Downs parents group, adoptive parents, holistic moms, parents of speech and hearing challenged children, etc.... I could do a story and fingerplays with the children while the parents visit and then they could use the activities room to socialize. What do you think? Would there be a need for that? I'd love to read your comments below!

I'm most nervous about getting the financial pieces together and will breath a deep breathe when I know that is in place. I know the money is out there somewhere and I know I can make this store a magical place for families and be profitable at the same time. There is soo much I'm ready to do and it's time to get this party officially started! If you or someone you know might be looking to invest in a fun adventure, let me know and I'll be happy to share the business plan with them when I'm done with it very soon!

Toy Stores Small and HUGE!

Last week I had the great fun to visit 3 different toy stores and talk with the owners. I learned a ton and can see this vision coming more and more clear all the time! The first visit was to the Imagination Station in Franklin, IN. It is in a new location in an old bank and was absolutely charming. There were lots of fun activities to keep Lily and a friend busy. There was a steady stream of customers coming in and each was greeted warmly and taken very good care of by Julie, the owner.

The 2nd store was The Toy House in Jackson, MI...whoa!!! This one was HUGE! 16,000 sq feet of retail space and an amazing inventory selection! Phil, the owner, is 3rd generation to run the store and does an fabulous job. He clearly had many systems in place (oh, how I love systems!) that made the place run like clockwork. I've learned so much from Phil already and know there is much more to come.

The 3rd was The Genuine Toy Company in Plymouth, MI. Elle and Charles are in their 2nd year as toy owners and having such fun! Their store had a retro contemporary feel to it and had lots of games and puzzles. I used to teach in Plymouth so it was fun to go back to my old stomping ground a bit. I even got to visit at a favorite coffee shop with two good friends I'd not seen in over 15 years! Such fun!

It's fun to see how different all 3 stores were and how they were the same. Gives me lots of ideas! I sooooo appreciate the time and kindness of all the store owners I've spoken with in the last several weeks! I'm loving the sharing spirit of this new community and sooo enjoying being part of it!

I'm laser focused more than ever on getting the business plan done in the next week or so so we can get the financing in place next. There will be great opportunities for anyone interested in investing in a fun business! Stay tuned for more to come!

Mid March?!

Wow, another month flying by and time to get super focused on getting this project off the ground. I'd had some distractions the past few weeks that are now settled down and I'm ready to roll up my sleeves and get busy with this adventure! First up, to invite more people to complete the online marketing survey to help us determine an interest in a toy store in Carmel. We have 130 responses so far with a goal of 200 by the end of the week. If you have not already taken it, please pop over for a quick 3 minutes and let us know your thoughts. www.thetoygardenshop.com If you can then invite 3 other friends to do the same, that would be great!

This week my other goal is to begin to gather the pieces for the business plan. Much of it is done already and now needs to be compiled into a presentable format so we'll know numbers and then be ready to look for investors and other funding. Very exciting!

A New Old Friend

One of the most exciting part of this new adventure is the major learning curve I'm in right now. There is so much to learn and I love it! My favorite way to gain knowledge is in talking with those who have walked the walk before me. Today was a delightful day in that I got to talk with a special man. He owned a toy store for 21 years and recently stepped away from it. For an hour I scribbled notes as he, like a gentle grandfather, took me under his wing and shared with me pearls of wisdom from his years doing what I want to be doing. What amazing gifts we have to share when we connect with one another! I'm so thankful for his time and his advice and look forward to talking with more toy retailers and other small business owners in the weeks ahead!

A shout out as well, I am beginning to look for a carpenter to help with the buildout of the store. If you know of someone who might enjoy working on this project with us, please let us know!

Endings and beginnings

A free week in Costa Rica...heaven in part to be sure but a bittersweet trip all the same. Tim and I just returned from the annual Discovery Toys incentive trip to Costa Rica. Such an amazing country with so many adventures at your fingertips. We enjoyed zip lining through the trees near a family of monkeys and days of leisure at the pool not worrying about naps, baths and who was hungry when. This was my 4th incentive trip to go on and sadly, my last. While I am very excited about moving forward with the toy store and loving how so many pieces are falling into place so easily, it was sad to share the news of my leaving with those I care about. I know the news was a major surprise to many and I appreciate so many of them sincerely happy for us and wishing us the best. Major changes like this always show you who your true friends are and I'm so blessed to see firsthand how many dear friends I have. Now to let a few more people in my Discovery Toys world know the news and help them transition and then full steam ahead back to toy store planning!

Thank you to all who have taken the Start Up Survey! 50 people already with a goal of 200. Please share with those you know in or near the Carmel area and ask them to take the quick survey at www.thetoygardenshop.com

The responses are flowing in! Thank you!

I had a very fun day today putting fliers lots of places asking people to please pop on the website and take the quick 15 questions Start Up Survey. In the past 24 hours, there've been 24 replies which is a great start! Thank you to all who responded already! Any help you have in sharing this link would be great. Please include it in newsletters, emails to friends asking them to help us get this store started, on your facebook page, etc! My goal is 200 responses within 2 weeks and I know with your help we can do it! Thanks again!

Primary Market Research

It's time to see what our neighbors near and far think about their toy buying habits and if they might consider shopping at our new toy store. I've created an online survey for people to answer questions to help us do our primary market research. I plan to share this survey with my Discovery Toys customers and team as well as share the site info with my hair salon, chiropractor, gym and anywhere else I can think of. If you would also please pass it along and ask others to take it, that would be fabulous! Thanks!

Click here to take survey