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!