Conversation from Tulsa to Home

Me: Amanda, how are you?
Amanda: Mommy!!! (much excitement! Oh Lord, I miss this child!)
Me: Are you having a good day?
Amanda: yep
Me: What did you do today?
Amanda: hum...
Me: Amanda, What did you do today?
Amanda: silence
Me: Amanda, Did you feed the Bunnies?
Amanda: What?
Me: Did you feed the Bunnies?  Give them any love?
Amanda: What Mom?
Me: Have you been feeding and watering the Rabbits?
Amanda: silence
Me: Amanda, (loudly)
Amanda: Yeah, Mom.
Me: Are you watching tv?
Amanda: yep.
Me: I'll talk to you tomorrow. Bye.  (End Call and thinking "yeah, they're fine and maybe I don't miss them quite as much as I thought. Happy to be here at Convention doing something for myself!!")

Headed to Paradise

Yesterday I hauled my rear out of bed at 5:30 and got ready to head out the door for Tulsa.  This week is our National Convention for Usborne Books & More.  This is the fifth time I've attended the event.  Each year it gets me so excited and ready to come back and be the "Crazy Book Lady!"

When I left the house it was raining. We have gotten a ton of rain this summer.  I was excited to head towards some heat and sunshine!!  I drove over to Mankato and met up with Tracey Boraas and Becky Dean.  Both are amazing good friends and I was thrilled to drive down with them.  We left out of Mankato at 7:00 and made good time.  Would you believe we didn't turn the radio on the entire way!

We made great time through Iowa.  Although I was having a hard time letting go of work.  My boss sent me an email and told me to quit responding to emails. :)  It's hard to let go of responsibilities.  Plus look what I saw on the highway!!

Yep... We saw a couple Schugel Trucks on the way.  

We stopped in Ames to use the restroom and get something to eat.  We had lunch and stretched the legs.  The trip to Convention always reminds me how long of a state Iowa is. We made another stop at the southern border of Iowa to use the rest room again and stretch.  I feel like all I did yesterday was sit, eat, drink and pee!! :)  hehe!!

Your favorite Crazy Book Lady, Tracey and Becky!

When we left her I crawled in the back seat to take a nappy.  When I woke up when had gotten to through a chunk of Missouri and some rain.  Becky and Tracey were chatting nicely and I snoozed listening to some NPR on my iPhone.  Love my podcasts!!

Before we knew it we were in Joplin, Missouri and we stopped at a McDonalds for a snack, a soda and the bathroom.  We sat and chatted about the upcoming events of the week and were charmed by the guy behind the counter.  He welcomed us to Missouri and asked how our trip from Minnesota was.  WHAT?  How'd you know we were from Minnesota?  He said our Accents gave us away.  Ya, Ya, Es Gute!!  I know... I sound like a big, lumber jack Minnesotan.  I can't help it.  Yes I over enunciate my "O's.  It's my thing.  Don't judge!  Anyways... we had a nice chat with him.  I told him about how we were headed to Tulsa for a convention for Usborne Books and More.  I followed up by asking if he'd ever considered selling books.  (Becky, aren't you proud!!)  I gave him a business card and he said he would check into it.  He had previously done magazine sales.

Ethan, my next new recruit!!

From Joplin, MO to Tulsa is only about 2 hours.  We zipped along and made very good time.  It is very different scenery here.  No corn and bean fields.  Mostly cows and pasture land.

Well... Tracey is itching to go cause some trouble.  We are off to do some wandering and see what we can see.

Today we visited and toured the Usborne Home Office.  Video and Pictures of that to follow.   Take care and be sure to check back for info on the new titles and any announcements Randall has for us!!

Always,

TCBL

Ready, set, go!!!!!

I am packed and ready to leave for the Usborne 2013 convention!!  This is my 5th convention and I absolutely cannot wait to go!!

Going to convention puts a spark back in my business.  It ally lights a fire under my rear!!   I said to my husband yesterday "you do know I'll come back from Tulsa the Crazy Book Lady, right?!?"  His reply, "Yep. I know it always gets you recharged."

Recharged is such a great way to explain it.  I am so excited to spend time with my Ussie Buddies, see all the amazing new titles and hear all the great things.  There will be motivational speakers and leaders from Usborne there.  We will get to spend time with the home office and get to talk to Randall White, the CEO.

I will be posting lots of great pictures and video.  Be sure to check back for updates!!!

Outta Tears

I've started writing this post several times and finally feel ok writing it.  Although I've deleted it all twice and started over.

Two weeks ago today John got a call that a good friend of his had died in a car accident.  John was devastated.  He had known Tyson since they were in junior league bowling together in grade school.  I've known Ty since I was a senior in High School and worked with him at Godfather's Pizza in New Ulm.

John and Ty have bowled in lots and lots of tournaments together and on league together for years.  We found pictures from when they had gone to National Tournaments way back before John and I were married.

Tyson with the sign to "his Canyon Ranch" during our trip to Reno in 2001

Recent Picture of Tyson

John and I both grieve for the family left behind.  Yes, we will miss Tyson but we both feel terrible for the loved ones.  Especially when there are kids involved.  They are so young and forever is a difficult concept to understand.  Tyson was a great bowler, Son, Father, brother and Friend.  There were many tears shed at his funeral and he will definitely be missed.

John commented to me after the funeral that he didn't want to bury a friend again for a long time.  I so agree!

On top of this we lost a dear friend at work.  Our CFO, Jim Guldan, passed away after a very short battle with Cancer.  I have reported directly and indirectly to him for the last 5 years.  He was an amazing man.  Caring, compassionate, extremely hard working and very dedicated.  On top of being the CFO, a Husband, Dad and Grandpa he was an ordained Deacon in the Catholic Church.  He was a wonderful example of a strong faith.

Jim

Deacon Jim

On Tuesday I went to his funeral.  It was an amazing celebration of his life.  There were so many nice things said.   It has been a difficult week of changes at work.  Making sure that his replacement has access to all his work files, passwords, etc.  Cleaning out his office, disabling his accounts, etc.  It's so hard and everything is so final.  Jim also left behind family.  A wonderful wife, Brenda, and three daughters and a handful of Grandkids.  I am praying for them all.

We are gone to Nick's Baseball Tournament this weekend.  It feels good to sit and relax while cheering for a great team.  More updates this weekend.  Be sure to check back!!

What's making me happy this week!

I listen to a lot of podcasts.  One of them is NPR: Pop Culture Happy Hour.  They have different topics that they talk about and each week each of the hosts lists what is making them happy this week.  I love this.  It can be short and sweet or sometimes they elaborate and they give details.  I have found that I look forward to this in each episode.  I kind of want to pipe in and say... "Cool, this is what's making me happy this week."

So... What's making me happy this week?  I'm so glad you asked.

Summer - It is finally here!!  Jake and Amanda finished school yesterday and Nick is done today!  Yeah!

Baby Rabbits - Yes, we had more baby rabbits.  Yes, it was planned.  Carmel had 5 baby rabbits on Wednesday, May 29th.  They are adorable!!


A new box of workbooks - I ordered a box of workbooks from School Zone for Jake and Amanda.  They are going to work hard this summer.  Jake needs to work on Multiplication and Division and his Reading.  Amanda is going to continue building the skills she learned in Kindergarten.

A Free weekend - John's nephew Brad graduates from High School this year and we have his graduation party tomorrow.  Other then that our weekend is wide open.  I have a habit of booking my calendar completely full so I'm very excited about an open weekend.


Each week I am going to share what is making me happy. I'd love to hear what is making you happy!  Please leave me a comment.

Birthday Boy

It was a very busy weekend at our house.  Jacob turned 9 last week so we had his birthday party with my Parents and our Siblings/Nieces/Nephews.  It was a great time.  I can't believe he's 9 already!  Wasn't he an infant yesterday?!?

My cute little 8 lb 13 1/2 oz infant

My 9 pound grown up little man

We ate, we visited, we watched and we sang. He had a great time and that made all the cleaning, baking, cooking, wrapping and more cleaning afterwards all worth it!!

Everyone needs a personalized License Plate!!

A Snuggly Rabbit Puppet

Blowing out all those candles!!

Happy Birthday Jacob!!  I'm so proud of the boy you have grown into.  You are so smart and caring.  I can't wait to see what the next 9 years has to hold for you.

I really enjoy watching the kids all play together.  All the running and laughing.  It all makes it worth it.  I hope they enjoy the time with their cousins like I did.  I remember all the fun at my birthday parties.  The ended up being like a big BBQ Party and were so much fun!!

Kids X-Cel Book Fair

I am in full swing of a book fair at Kids X-Cel Center.  It is going very well.  The school will be receiving lots of great books for their class rooms.

 

 

I have really enjoyed getting to know my new "little friends".  :)  Some of them know me as Michele and some know me as "the crazy book lady".

BHH (Book Hauling Husband) John has watched the book fair for me an hour each day.  He was telling me how he overheard one of the kids talking about the "Crazy Book Lady" to their mom. Apparently the mom scolded the child and said that wasn't nice to call me crazy.  No really! I am the Crazy Book Lady and I wear my name with pride!!


It is a beautiful center and the kids are so darn cute!  Tonight is their open house and I will be there from 3-7:30.  Come see me and check out this amazing center!!

 

My Display!!

One of the teacher's Wish Lists.

The wish lists work great for the schools!  The teachers pick out books that they want from the catalogs and get them back to me before hand.  I make each of the teachers a Tag Board with all the books written on post-its.  Then the parents can simply pull the title they want to purchase off the list.  It works great!