You May Be Wondering . . .

You may be wondering why you haven't heard much from me this week. Oh, you aren't? Well, I'll tell you anyway.

Because our business is growing every month, my husband really needed me to help out more regularly. Since the school year is winding down for the kids, I blindly said, "Sure, why not? It'll be fun." I used to research products for his customers, but it was more efficient for him to do so because he is familiar with exactly what the client is looking for. I can research general items and produce a list of presentations for him to review (for example, he may want a "sun package" for a hotel gift shop), but that was the extent of it. So, we found that he was still doing a majority of the tasks that he tried to pass on to me.

Now I am officially known as the Order Fulfillment Department. And, indeed, I have a very important job. Once my husband sends a supplier the purchase order, he gives it to me. From that moment on, I'm responsible for fulfilling the order (hence, the name of the newly developed department). So, through e-mails and phone calls, I request graphics from our designer, approve art, liaison with the customer (although, my husband still does this more than I do), bug suppliers throughout the production process, track the shipments, and ensure that my husband has what the client ordered before he personally delivers it. This prevents details from slipping through the cracks (like not realizing that a virtual proof had not yet been delivered, or that an order is on hold pending payment). You know, I really like what I'm doing.

My new duties better free up my husband to do what he does best--sell. However, I no longer have time to compose (which doesn't take much) or edit (which can sometimes take hours) my posts. So the blog must suffer for the sake of our income.

There was so much that I wanted to tell you this week, but didn't have the time. For instance, we solved our little gopher-in-the-vegetable-garden problem. Well, technically, "we" isn't an accurate term. One (or more) of my dogs solved it. Unfortunately, the dog's solution didn't do a whole lot of good for my garden (one heaping mess). We have a short fence around the plot, but the dogs were never interested in hopping it--until they noticed a furry creature devouring our broccoli. I woke up one morning to a large hole in the garden, a few trampled vegetables, a broccoli plant strewn onto the grass, and a dog covered with little yellow broccoli florets. I scolded the dog and she hasn't been in there since--maybe because she scared away (or ate) the gopher.

Then I wanted to jump on the computer and tell you about this freakish weather we're having in Southern California--tornadoes, hail, fierce thunder and lightning. But you'll have to look it up yourself on the news sites.

I'll have to save our other adventures for a different time. I hope to have an opportunity to post next week, but, if I don't, it's only because we happened to pick the right business this time--and that's not such a bad thing!