Saturday, November 26, 2011

Cajun Corner - Vol. 3, No. 47




Cajun Corner – Vol. 3, No. 47 – November 26, 2011



Bon Jour!  Welcome to Cajun Stitchery’s weekly email and welcome to our family.



ΘΘΘΘΘ

Don’t forget to visit our blog at www.cajunstitchery.blogspot.com, and www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com often.   We are also on Twitter and Facebook. 

Visit our on-line catalogs at:



Hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving.

We spent Thanksgiving Day with friends.  It was the usual fair of eating until you could barely breathe, took a walk, and then we played an enticing game of Scrabble.  It really was a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We have so much for which to be thankful.

We are still learning our smart phones and still having issues with our U-verse.  Earlier this week the internet went down, again.  This time they sent a repairman who seems to think the problem is in the AT&T wires and not our home wiring.  The internet came up again and we were happy.  It went down again today requiring us to call, again.  We are back on the internet now.  It comes and goes.  I sure wish they would fix the problem.

Today I received The Square.  The Square is the entire reason we got the smart phones and the U-verse in the first place.  The Square allows Cajun Stitchery to accept credit cards.  I must have Wi-Fi available so it should work at the house.  I’m going to the Perdido Bay Golf Club this afternoon where we will have a booth with other local small businesses.  I sure hope we can get Wi-Fi there so I can accept credit cards. 

Buy from local small businesses day is a great idea.  There has been a lot of publicity.  I’m thinking that most shoppers want to buy from local small businesses but the prices that many small businesses have to charge is more than people pay at the Wal-Mart type businesses.  In addition to that, it is the day after Black Friday when shoppers are really hyped about getting bargains.  Cajun Stitchery has drastically reduced the price on many of our items that we will be selling today.  We are also looking into various machines that will help us produce a better product and be able to reduce prices at the same time.  The problem, of course, is that the machines cost a lot of money that we would have to recoup.

The boring needles came in.  I’m a little nervous about using them and I’m waiting for my friend to try her’s first.  I read as much literature as I could find on them, including watching some videos.  It just appears that an attachment is necessary.  I contacted the manufacturer of our machine but they never returned my call.

If anyone is interested in bath robes, let me know.  I’m getting ready to place an order for some waffle weave robes, 48” long, hotel quality, one size fits all.  They are going to cost about $50 each, plus shipping.  Of course, the more I purchase, the lower the shipping rate.

CHRISTMAS is around the corner.  Get that Christmas shopping done now and enjoy the holidays.

If you are not a subscriber and would like to receive Cajun Corner weekly, please email cajunstitchery@yahoo.com and let me know to put you on our email list. 
===============================================================

Thank you Marshall Larrivere for the following:

Walking into the bar, Boudreaux said to Charlie

the bartender, “Pour me a stiff one - just had another fight with the

little wife.”

“Oh yeah?” said Charlie, “And how did this one end?”

“When it was over,” Boudreaux replied, “She came

to me on her hands and knees.”

“Really,” said Charles, “Now that's a switch!?

What did she say?”

She said, “Come out from under the bed, you little

coward.”



=================================================================

C’est tout, mes amis



Peggy Henshall

Cajun Stitchery

(850) 261-2462




P.S.  You are always welcome to stop by and look at all of the catalogs and pass some time with me, cher.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Cajun Corner - Vol. 3, No. 46

























Cajun Corner – Vol. 3, No. 46 – November 18, 2011



Bon Jour!  Welcome to Cajun Stitchery’s weekly email and welcome to our family.



ΘΘΘΘΘ

Don’t forget to visit our blog at www.cajunstitchery.blogspot.com, and www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com often.   We are also on Twitter and Facebook. 

Visit our on-line catalogs at:



This week has been spent with a new internet Wi-Fi system and new smart phones.  All of which I’ve been tempted to throw out the window at least a couple of times this week.  It all began when my friend showed me The Square.  The Square is a little one inch square, plug-in mechanism to enable me to accept credit card payments.  It plugs into the top of a smart phone.  The phone has The Square App (program) and voila, I can accept credit cards.  But you do have to have a smart phone.  I can accept credit cards via PayPal but not all of my business is over the internet.  Customers come to my house, or I go to them, occasionally.  There is always the issue of craft fairs and the like.  I rarely carry cash on me and expect others are the same.  With The Square I just need to have a Wi-Fi connection and I can sell my wares on the go.  I’ve never had the credit card machine because there is a monthly fee, a fee for the machine, and a fee per transaction.  It is expensive.  I’ve noticed in the past year or two more and more businesses, especially the government, accepts credit cards or debit cards but they charge you a fee to use credit.  That is because of the fees charged to them.  The Square is absolutely free and there is no monthly fee, only a small per transaction fee, similar to PayPal.  I expect people will start seeing The Square often because it is just such a good deal all the way around.

The first thing was to get the smart phone.  George and I still had the little Razor cell phones and our old Cingular phone plan which was grandfathered into our AT&T bill when AT&T consumed Cingular.  Other than our cell phones, we still had our land line and our DSL for our computers.  I held off getting rid of the land line for a long time.  After Ivan hit in 2004, our cell phones didn’t work because all of the air waves were over loaded with all of the calls, but our trusty land line worked like a charm and I was able to call FEMA and our insurance company as the hurricane was passing by.  It was time now to get rid of the land line.  It has been seven years since Ivan and I’m sure the over loaded air wave issues have been remedied with all of the new technology.  So, we called AT&T and got rid of everything we had and put in a new U-verse internet system and smart phones. 

As the days went by waiting for the new hardware, we worried about what problems we would have setting everything up ourselves.  We read the AT&T tutorials.  When we first had the DSL installed, I ended up in tears talking with the AT&T tech that was helping us.  It was pure exhaustion.  This time I went ahead and called the AT&T tech before we even got the equipment trying to troubleshoot the “what ifs”.  Finally, the U-verse arrived.  We couldn’t install until Monday when a real, live person came to the house to do something with our wiring.  As he left, he told us that we were ready to install the U-verse and to go ahead.  He left.  We installed.  It worked.  Unbelievable!  We received the smart phones the same day and the box had a message to fully charge the battery before turning on the phone.  We plugged them in.  Then we needed to transfer our phone numbers from our old SIM card to the new one.  Well, how do you do that?  One way was to get online and read the tutorial.  At that time, we did not have internet yet.  The other way showed us a step-by-step set of instructions.  We followed each step.  We got to a point where it asked if we wanted to “override”.  We didn’t know if we did or not but it looked like a good thing to do, so we did.  Oops.  We wiped out our numbers.  So, if I had your number, I don’t anymore.  Please call and give me your number – or email me.

We finally got the smart phones working.  Not sure they are as smart as they claim to be though.  The first thing we decided is that we needed to know how to place a call and receive a call.  Amazingly, that was a monumental task.  Once we figured out how to place a call to the other one, then we couldn’t figure out how to answer the call before it went to voice mail.  And God only know how to locate voice mail.  Luckily, that evening we were meeting with neighbors and everyone had to see the phone.  I received so much instruction on that phone and it was all going in one ear and out the other.  The more we played with the phones, the more we began learning.  We still have a long way to go but we can place a call, answer a call, find voice mail, and insert contacts from numbers that call us.  We can even get online via the smart phone.  Hooray!

Then on Tuesday our computers showed a page that said our Wi-Fi was not working and that we need to put a filter on whatever is on our phone line such as a fax machine or security system.  Hmmmm.  The only thing on our phone line now is the Wi-Fi that is not working.  The page on the computer suggested going to other websites.  Hellooo, the computer is not working.  We cannot get online to go to any websites.  We called AT&T.  These calls to AT&T are a minimum of an hour and sometimes 3 hours.  We had to take George’s laptop upstairs and physically connect it to the U-verse box and type in a bunch of numbers and, I guess, reset the whole thing.  “Mr. and Mrs. Henshall,” said the tech, “you should be good to go now.”  Indeed, we were back online.  Until Thursday, when we got the same page on both computers and we were, once again, down.  Try as we may, we couldn’t get back online.  So, we called AT&T, again.  They got us back online.  “Mr. and Mrs. Henshall,” said the tech, “you should be good to go now.  Do you have any other questions?”  At this point, I said, “I just need to know if we are going to have to call AT&T once every day or two in order to get back online.  If that is the case, I need to include you on my calendar of things to do.”  By this time, George began overriding me and telling the gentleman, “Thank you for all of your help.”

Yes, we have lightning speed Wi-Fi internet now – that comes and goes – and smart phones that are so smart we cannot always figure them out.  For instance, when I open up the phone, there are several icons to press for whatever I want to do, such as, contact, phone, email, apps, browser, market, and other things.  A friend of mine put a “gallery” on that page so I could see my photos.  Did I mention the phone takes pictures?  Well, now in addition to the “gallery” there is a “mini diary”.  Where did that come from and why?  I think the phone wants me to keep a diary.  I’m thinking that phone is so smart that it just wants to know all of my personal stuff and laugh at me.  No way am I keeping a diary on that phone.  It’s probably the AT&T tech that I wised off to that wants me to keep a diary.  Uh-uh, buddy.  You are not going to see my personal stuff.

Alas, I did order The Square.  The only reason we put up with AT&T this week was to get The Square.  I now have an app on the smart phone that is awaiting The Square.  I guess it will be arriving in the next week or two and I will finally be able to accept credit cards.

My embroidery tech friend who lives in Orlando called me the other day.  She found the boring needles and is sending me two of them.  Each of these needles costs $25.  That’s right folks, $25 per needle, and that is discounted because she bought a bulk package of 10 needles.  These needles bore holes in fabric for cutwork or eyelets.  This should not only automatically cut the eyelets out of my can wraps, but make the eyelets much neater and prettier.  When I get the needles, I need to learn how to use them.  Boudreaux does have a boring needle setting.  I just need to learn how to use it.  I’m very excited about this.  In fact, I don’t think a lot of embroiderers use boring needles.

All of the AT&T interaction backed me up in my work significantly.  I had planned, and paid for, a spot at Gallery Night.  I needed to make Christmas stockings to sell and have been working on them all week.  I was only able to make 5 or 6 stockings between everything else this week.  Also, I created a new can wrap.  This one has a pocket.  Then came the can wraps with initials.  In the meantime, I was filling various orders.  Since I didn’t make Gallery Night, all of this is for sale.  The stockings are $15.00 each, fully lined in red with “Merry Christmas” embroidered on the cuff.  You are not going to find Christmas stockings like this anywhere else.  The can wraps, of course, are $7.00 each.  So, pretend that we are at Gallery Night and let’s start shopping:>)

I’m lined up to have a booth Perdido Bay Golf Club on November 26th.  Don’t forget to buy from local small businesses on November 26th.  It would be nice if there were areas set up all over town to spotlight our local small businesses.

Yes, we are still celebrating my birthday this week.

All cell phone holders in our Etsy store are half price ($5.00), so stop by www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com and get some cute cell phone holders as gifts for Christmas.  Now I’m going to have to design a smart phone holder.

CHRISTMAS is around the corner.  Get that Christmas shopping done now and enjoy the holidays.

If you are not a subscriber and would like to receive Cajun Corner weekly, please email cajunstitchery@yahoo.com and let me know to put you on our email list. 
===============================================================

Thank you Marshall Larrivere for the following:

A Parish priest is driving down to New Orleans

from Alexandria and gets stopped for speeding . The state trooper

smells alcohol on the priest's breath and then sees an empty wine

bottle on the floor of the car.

He says, “Sir, have you been drinking?”

“Just water,” says the priest.

The trooper says, “Then why do I smell wine?”

The priest looks at the bottle and says, “Good Lord!

He's done it again!”

=================================================================

C’est tout, mes amis



Peggy Henshall

Cajun Stitchery

(850) 261-2462




P.S.  You are always welcome to stop by and look at all of the catalogs and pass some time with me, cher.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Cajun Corner - Vol. 3, No. 45



Cajun Corner – Vol. 3, No. 45 – November 11, 2011



Bon Jour!  Welcome to Cajun Stitchery’s weekly email and welcome to our family.



ΘΘΘΘΘ


Don’t forget to visit our blog at www.cajunstitchery.blogspot.com, and www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com often.   We are also on Twitter and Facebook. 

Visit our on-line catalogs at:



Veteran’s Day is coming to an end.  The Blue Angels Air Show was right over our house today.  It was a fabulous celebration.  The air show continues tomorrow, as well.

I’m lined up to have a booth at Gallery Night on November 18th  in downtown Pensacola and at the Perdido Bay Golf Club on November 26th.  Don’t forget to buy from local small businesses on November 26th.  It occurred to me this week that the reason people shop at malls is because all of the stores are under one roof.  Just telling people to shop local small businesses is not good enough.  How are people going to find small businesses who work out of their homes, like me?  So, I made a suggestion to our wonderful Women’s Business Luncheon group that we need to find places to gather and have booths on the 26th.  I really thought the perfect venue would be our Small Business Development Center.  I asked if we would be allowed to set up in their parking lot, which is just on the outskirts of downtown.  I still haven’t received a response.  In the meantime, another member has arranged for us to set up at the Perdido Bay Golf Club from 1-5 p.m.  She set aside a table and chair for Cajun Stitchery.  So, that’s where we are going to be.  If you are in the area, come on over to Perdido Bay Golf Club on Saturday, November 26th between 1-5 p.m.   Meet some of your local small businesses and do your Christmas shopping.  Of course, it would be nice if there were areas set up all over town to spotlight our local small businesses.

It is getting busy now.  I’ve been working with several friends trying to learn how to make cold calls.  It really all started last weekend.  I was messaging a friend and was still pondering why people loved my merchandise at the craft fair, they touched, they commented, but then would walk away without purchasing anything.  I’m thinking that I am doing something wrong.  So, while we were messaging, she decided that I need to meet a lady who owns a new local small business.  Before the conversation was over I had an appointment for Tuesday.  Tuesday arrived and I did meet with the lady.  I made up a packet of information about Cajun Stitchery and embroidery, including my price list.  I brought one of my catalogs and even created a sample embroidered logo for her to see my work.  I walked in wearing my black fleur de lis scarf with rhinestones.  Another friend happened to be there and she really did all of the work for me.  She told the owner how she orders her embroidery from me and is a completely satisfied customer.  The rest was just chit chat.  Once her logo is done by her graphic designer, she is going to send it to me to have digitized and embroidered on aprons and smocks.  She also wants some scarves made.  We had a very pleasant conversation and have even arranged to meet again next week.  It was a good meeting.

Later, I thanked my friend and was telling her about the meeting when she decided that I needed to come to her office and practice cold calls.   While we sat and chatted I told her that was probably the first cold call that I’ve ever made.  In disbelief she asked how I got business.  I said, “I have a lot of friend and I talked about embroidery a lot.”  In fact, all of my business is via word of mouth.  At this she said that I needed to meet with a friend who is some sort of executive at Circle K.  That was humorous because that night George and I were going to our weekly Scrabble game which included a friend who is an executive at Circle K.  She wants me to put my can wraps on consignment. 

That evening I talked with my friend who said this probably is a good idea.  If I can get this lady to put my can wraps in her local Circle K stores on consignment, then we will be able to see how they sell.  I sent the introductory email to the lady today but so far have not received a response.  So, say a prayer that this works.  In fact, George and I are talking about printing out labels saying, “Made in the USA” to put on the can wraps and everything else that I make.  The nice thing about the can wraps is that they already have their own Can Wrap Rap by 2-Short Cajun Mama.

While I was on my first cold call, the lady showed me The Square.  Right now the only way that I can accept payment via credit cards is through PayPal.  The reason is because the credit card machine cost money, there’s a monthly fee, all in addition to a percentage taken from each credit card swipe.  The Square, however, is a little one inch device that plugs into the top of a smart phone.  It is the credit card swiper.  There is still a percentage charged for each swipe but no bulky machine and no monthly charge.  Now I can accept credit cards at craft fairs, home parties, wherever I am at the time.  I would rather carry a debit or credit card on me than cash.  I assume others feel the same way.  So, George and I have ordered 2 smart phones from AT&T which should arrive on Monday.  We have rearranged our phone package so don’t be alarmed if I’m off line and without phone service on Monday.

My birthday carried over into this week.  I finally had to quit eating completely except for all of the wonderful dinners and wine that I’m receiving.  My Wednesday night ladies were wonderful, as usual.  Our little nurse was still wearing her nurse’s hat from last week.  I received even more birthday presents this week.  As George says, “Looks like this birthday is going to last all month.”  Sure hope so.

Before I forget, I still have the box for non-perishable food for the homeless shelters.  If you are in the area, drop off some non-perishables.  The food drive is going on to December.

I still have some red and white, regular furry Christmas Stockings, approximately 17 inches long.  I will be glad to embroider a name on them for $7.00 each (includes the stocking).  I also made a pattern for a regular Christmas stocking, same size, which is pretty simple.  I’ll make the stocking and add the name for $12.00.  Let me know if you are interested. They are fully lined.  Fabric will change depending on what I have available at the time of the order.

All cell phone holders in our Etsy store are half price ($5.00), so stop by www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com and get some cute cell phone holders as gifts for Christmas.

CHRISTMAS is around the corner.  Get that Christmas shopping done now and enjoy the holidays.

If you are not a subscriber and would like to receive Cajun Corner weekly, please email cajunstitchery@yahoo.com and let me know to put you on our email list. 
===============================================================

Thank you Marshall Larrivere for the following:

Boudreaux opened the morning newspaper and was

dumbfounded to read in the obituary column that he had died. He

quickly phoned his best friend, Landry.

“Did you see the paper?” asked Boudreaux. “They

say I died!!”

“Yes, I saw it!” replied Landry. “Where ya callin' from?”

=================================================================

C’est tout, mes amis



Peggy Henshall

Cajun Stitchery

(850) 261-2462




P.S.  You are always welcome to stop by and look at all of the catalogs and pass some time with me, cher.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Cajun Corner - Vol. 3, No. 44













Cajun Corner – Vol. 3, No. 44 – November 4, 2011



Bon Jour!  Welcome to Cajun Stitchery’s weekly email and welcome to our family.



ΘΘΘΘΘ

Don’t forget to visit our blog at www.cajunstitchery.blogspot.com, and www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com often.   We are also on Twitter and Facebook. 

Visit our on-line catalogs at:



Halloween, as usual, was filled with laughter.  George sat out front adorned with a pirate’s hat and skull mask; his body covered in his black rain poncho, leaning against the front door with a bowl of candy on one side and a glass gallon bottle of what appeared to be whiskey or rum on the other side.  As the children approached, he did not move, but as their hands went into the candy, he would say, “BOO”.  Kids and grownups, alike, jumped.  We didn’t have too many children; probably about 20 or so.  It was fun.  Our neighbors were out, too, which increased the fun.  Afterwards, George and I stoked up the chininea and had a glass of wine by the fire.  It was a wonderful evening.

Of course, the next day was my birthday.  We went out to Ruby Tuesday’s for lunch but didn’t do much else.  My birthday present this year from George was getting my car repainted.  We took my 16 year old Geo Metro to Peach Paint & Collision on Monday and picked it up on Wednesday.  The car looks brand new.  It is really pretty.  I cannot imagine a better birthday present.  That’s the best car I’ve ever owned and the only one that fits me like a glove. 

Wednesday night with the girls was hysterical.  Of course, my birthday was celebrated and I received some wonderful gifts.  The biggest gift is their friendship and the laughter they bring into my life.  Our hostess has been caring for an ailing friend who has been at her house since he got out of the hospital.  He was in the bedroom sleeping.  All 11 of us girls were trying to be quiet because we didn’t want to disturb the patient.  Well, that didn’t work, but when Happy Birthday was sung in a whisper, we all fell out laughing.

A little sideline to this story is that we had been teasing our friend about nursing her patient.  This particular lady is probably the last person on the face of the earth that you would ever consider a nurse.  She decided that she wanted a nurse’s hat and wanted me to make one for her.  I found a site on the internet with instructions for making a nurses hat and sent it to her.  She whined and whined because she said she couldn’t make it.  Then I found an instructional video on YouTube on making a nurse’s hat.  During the video the lady said that she had been bit by a bug on her eye was making the hat using only one eye.  I forwarded the video to my friend, telling her that if the lady in the video was only using one eye to make the nurse’s hat, she certainly could make one.  She whined and whined.  It was just hilarious reading all of the whining emails.  So, George and I went to the dollar store and picked up some poster board and Tuesday night we made 6 nurses hats.  When I arrived on Wednesday night, I handed out the nurses hats.  They were such a source of entertainment.  We laughed until we cried.  When she went to administer her patient’s evening medicine, he said, “Where’d you get that hat?”  The following morning when he awoke and walked down the hall to the kitchen, he passed by all of the hats hanging on the coat rack.  He laughed.  At least it brought laughter to her patient and, after all, laughter is the best medicine.

Thursday evening we went to another friend’s home for dinner.  We usually have Thursday evenings set aside for a game of Scrabble.  This friend, who used to live next door to me but now lives in Gulf Breeze, was my neighbor when Mama was living with me.  Mama would go next door and play Scrabble.  When Mama would play Scrabble and get a tile that she couldn’t use, she would drop it on the floor.  We hadn’t really noticed her doing that until after the first game when my friend went to clean her house and found the tiles on the floor under the table.  We have always laughed about Mama playing Scrabble.

But this Thursday evening was a birthday party for me.  She made all of my favorite dishes.  Neighbors joined us for the occasion.  We drank wine, talked, opened presents and enjoyed playing our game of creative Scrabble.  It was a delightful evening.  My friend likes to play Scrabble by the rules.  I look at it as a “game” and endeavor to enjoy myself.  I spend the time making up words and try to convince her that they are really words.  For instance, if anything is on the internet, and everything is, then it should be acceptable to put an “I” or “e” before each word.  Such as, “e” mail, or “I”phone.  It would make perfect sense, to me, at least, that you could use the word “igames”.  Those are games played on the internet, distinguished from games played in person.  And so, our Scrabble evenings go.  The more wine we drink, the better the words and explanations.

TGIF!  So, today is Friday.  At this point, we have no plans for this evening.  I don’t think I can eat another bite of food.  In just this one week, I think I have outgrown all of my clothes.  Although I still have my gift certificate for Bonelli’s which is my favorite Italian restaurant. 

One gift that I received this week was a pair of tickets for a dolphin glass bottom boat tour out of Orange Beach.  Now that sounds interesting.  The girls were telling me that I need to get out of the house.  Of course, I teased them.  We will definitely be using these tickets, and probably within the next few weeks.  This just sounds like a wonderful outing.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

How much work did I actually get done this week?  Not nearly as much as I should have.

I am, however, starting to attach stories to our items in the Etsy store.  We now have Nauga Gloves and Charlotte’s Towel.  More will come.

Before I forget, I still have the box for non-perishable food for the homeless shelters.  If you are in the area, drop off some non-perishables.  The food drive is going on to December.

Also, I have some red and white, regular furry Christmas Stockings, approximately 17 inches long.  I will be glad to embroider a name on them for $7.00 each (includes the stocking).  I also made a pattern for a regular Christmas stocking, same size, which is pretty simple.  I’ll make the stocking and add the name for $12.00.  Let me know if you are interested.  Attached is a photo of one of my stockings.  They are fully lined.  Fabric will change depending on what I have available at the time of the order.

All cell phone holders in our Etsy store are half price ($5.00), so stop by www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com and get some cute cell phone holders as gifts for Christmas.

CHRISTMAS is around the corner.  Get that Christmas shopping done now and enjoy the holidays.

If you are not a subscriber and would like to receive Cajun Corner weekly, please email cajunstitchery@yahoo.com and let me know to put you on our email list. 
===============================================================

Thank you Marshall Larrivere for the following:

Boudreaux was in New Orleans.

He was patiently waiting and watching the traffic

cop on a busy street crossing. The cop stopped the flow of traffic

and shouted, “Okay, pedestrians.” Then he'd allow the traffic to pass.

He'd done this several times, and Boudreaux still

stood on the sidewalk.

After the cop had shouted, “Pedestrians!” for the

tenth time, Boudreaux went over to him and said, “Ain't it 'bout time

ya let the Catholics across?”

=================================================================

C’est tout, mes amis



Peggy Henshall

Cajun Stitchery

(850) 261-2462




P.S.  You are always welcome to stop by and look at all of the catalogs and pass some time with me, cher.