Hello Lila!

I received my final "reveal" gift from my Knitty secret pal on Christmas Eve. Can you say perfect timing?? It is the fantastic Lila! She and I have had a lot of fun talking via emails. The best news is that she will be heading to my neck of the woods in March for a Junior League convention, so I will get to meet her face-to-face. Because she has been one of my secret confidants throughout the shop opening process, I look forward to giving her a sneak preview during her visit.

Boy does this wonderful lady have impeccable taste as well, as evidenced by the amazing package she sent me. She puts a lot of time into her wrapping. I almost feel guilty tearing the paper. I received all the materials to make the Suss Cousin's Girls Bag, beads to knit myself a wire cuff, Texas stitch markers, knitting gift tags, Miss Piggy lip balm (I collect Miss Piggy memorabilia), and Classic Elite Lush in my favorite robin's egg blue. I apologize for the poor picture quality. I'm speechless! Thank you again Lila. I look forward to continuing our cyber friendship.

Now, for the latest shop news. Sheryl and I can finally take a breather for a few days. We worked our little tails off to get in all of our Small Business Administration paperwork and business plan before the holidays. I hope all of our hard work will pay off. We have to hear back from the bank to see if our loan request will be approved. I spoke to the banker right before Christmas, and he seemed optimistic. He had no questions regarding our paperwork, which I take as a good sign. He said that we had done our research and presented a very polished application.

Sheryl's father passed away during this hectic time as well. It has been a very difficult time for her. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

I've joined the bandwagon and added the Frapper map to my sidebar. I'd love it if y'all would click on the link and put your dot on my map.

Merry Christmas from the Lovie's

'Tis the season to send out our family Christmas card, and I wanted to include all of my blog friends on my Christmas card list. This is the picture I sent out this year. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season filled with joy, laughter, and love.

Blog posting and blog reading will be sporadic at best in the next few weeks. I'm drowning in business chores and holiday obligations. I'll look forward to filling y'all in soon on the big happenings at Yarntopia. Hopefully it will be lots of good news, which I think it will.

Lest you think I've fallen off the face of the earth

Things are a bit over the top here in the Lovie household. I'm not sure if I've ever been this busy in my entire life. Between shop doings, mommy duties, household chores, and Christmas, I'm now close to certifiable.

First, there have been BIG things going on for Yarntopia. We have placed huge orders with Plymouth, GGH, Louisa Harding, and Cascade. On Thursday of this week, we will order our Rowan, Classic Elite, & Nashua. The rep that is coming on Thursday also sells Crystal Palace, Trendsetter, and Colinette. We may pick up a little novelty from Crystal Palace. I think we will pass on Trendsetter this go round. One of my big hang-ups is Colinette. I think it is a beautiful yarn, just WAY to expensive for what it is. That says a lot because I will spend a lot on yarn. I know many yarn stores carry it, but to be honest with you, I've never seen anyone actually buy it. What are y'alls opinions? Is this a must carry line?

Now for the things that have given me heartburn this past week. I figure I'll start with the bad and end with the good. Our Plymouth rep put a whammy on us. After we told her on three separate occasions NOT to fill the order right away (what am I going to do with $11K worth of yarn in my house) she filled the order anyway. Sheryl and I were L-I-V-I-D!! We think she did it so that she could count that big order on her last quarter sales. Not only that, she blamed me for the mistake! And to add insult to injury, she didn't apologize!!! She has been put in Amy's permanent black book. Not a good place to be if you know me. After a huge "come to Jesus" with her on the phone, our money was put back into our account.

Next we have the incident that occurred while meeting with the Louisa Harding rep. First let me say that she was lovely. Very professional, knowledgeable, and helpful. Hopefully she is also an understanding person as well because my children were monsters while she was here. There was fighting, television watching at concert level decibels, bathroom going with the door open, numerous pesterings and interruptions, and jumping off of God knows what upstairs that nearly made my chandelier fall off of the ceiling. I was so humiliated and mad when she left, I knew I couldn't punish them. CPS might have gotten involved. I did the old "just you wait until your father gets home". There punishment was no playgroup that week and no TV for two days. A huge deal to five year olds. Needless to say when the Cascade rep came on Saturday, there were no incidents.

Now for the good news. I LOOOOVE the Small Business Administration. I'm finally getting to use a government program!! They have held our hand through the entire business plan and loan approval process. It looks like we will have no trouble acquiring a loan. They also have lawyers, accountants, and other experts to help us every step of the way at no or a reduced fee.

I am still knitting on top of all of this. I have finished all but one of my Christmas presents. I'm also knitting hats for the girls that match their winter coats. I'll post a picture when I'm finished with both of them.

Finally, Knitizen tagged me with an easy meme. Post a picture of where you knit. I won't tag anyone in particular for this one. Please post if you like.