Happy Holidays!

I am sorry if you feel a little neglected right now... Thursday and Friday are the last two days before my store, Wingdoodle, is closed! We are doing a 50% off sale in the store. My daughter, Lilah, and I dragged stuff out of the storage room  all afternoon... oh, wait, that part was me... but she did help me empty the drawers in the store and put a gazillion finger puppets on the rack. (Ooo - that sounds like a torture device for toys!)

The store was starting to show some empty spots, but then I "discovered" forgotten caches of polymer clay and tape guns and toothbrushes with feet and buttocks (seriously!), MORE rubber stamps and... finger puppets. I can't believe no one noticed a huge Rubber Maid box FILLED with little bars of Sculpey in the back room? Two days? There's still so much to sell off.

My little helper would put one finger puppet (on the rack) and then set one aside for her Pre-school class. I was making little piles of my own. As the afternoon wore on, here's how the conversation went:

Lilah: "Can I have this, Mom?"
Me: "No."

Lilah: "Can we donate this to my class?"
Me: "... OK."

Lilah: "Can I give this giant pipe cleaner to my friend Amelia?"
Me: "Why don't you take the entire canister to school?"
Lilah: "Eeeee!! And this?"
Me: "Sure."
Lilah: "And this?"
Me: "Yep"
Lilah:"And..."
Me: "Lilah, if it fits in the bag, you can have it!"

Yes, there are perks to having a mom who owns a toy store. But we have been trying to spread the cheer outside the family too. A man came in with his son a week ago and picked out a few little things. Then his gaze fell on a Lily doll and his eyes lit up. It would be so perfect for his daughter! When he saw the price tag ($49.99) his face fell. But I watched his hands (they looked like a mechanic's hands) and he just couldn't put the doll's box back on the shelf.
I asked him "What price would you have rather seen on the box?"
He said, "Oh, I hoped it would be, like, $20 bucks."
"OK", I said. "It's $20."

I totally GET why Santa does what he does!

Donating toys and stuff to local families who have had a sucky year feels good too. But I start feeling sad that I can't really change anything, just put a cuddly band-aid on the problem for a day. :-(

Selling off all this stuff - even at a ridiculous discount - is nice too. I own the building and my Belfry studio is upstairs, AND my track record is to start a new biz every few years... so chances are pretty good I'll have a new business in there by this summer. And I'll need some money to get it started, so 2 more days to sell!!

Speaking of selling... if you want to buy anything at my Etsy site, (it's too late to get it before Christmas), you'll want to place your order in the next couple of days. I'm going to put it in Vacation Mode from Friday afternoon until next Wednesday. If you haven't been on there in a while (www.bumblebat.com), I have all the official Zentangle® supplies as well as all my books (get them signed!) Totally Tangled is being reprinted, again, by the publisher so it is hard to find. I have a few copies left and after the New Year, I'll have plenty more. AND! After the New Year, I should have my NEW BOOK!!! It's called Tangled Fashionista. I'll tell you more about it when I post it next week on Etsy.

Cheers - and here's wishing you a relaxing holiday with people who make you laugh. :-)