Tattoos and Scars

No, I'm not talking about the album by Montgomery Gentry...I'm talking about real tattoos and real scars. As it's getting to be warmer and warmer out, I've been noticing more and more tattoos out there. We live near a small town, a farming town, where you wave to strangers as they drive by, and as it gets warmer out, people wear less clothing so you can see more skin. The tattoos I'm noticing are not on the men, though, they're on the women...small-town moms, farmer's wives, waitresses at the local diner, and young women getting their hair cut at the salons.

I remember when I got my tattoo (at age 30--for my birthday)--it was scandalous! And that wasn't even that long ago. But today, they are much more accepted.
Here's why I'm writing about them. Ladies, make sure you take care of your tattoos! Keep them out of the sun if you can. Moisturize with something that goes deep into the skin, like Emu Oil or Shea Butter. Our Emu Moisturizing Butter is perfect for keeping the beautiful color on your tattoo.

What happens if you don't? Well, you know those old guys that maybe used to be in the military that hang around that one local diner? (Every town has one of those diners.) Look at their tattoos. Can you tell what it used to be? Yes, today's tattoo technology is much better, but they still fade with time until eventually it will look like a cartoon stretched out with Silly Putty.

My tattoo is of a female tiger surrounded by flowers. Her intense green eyes aren't so intense anymore, they've softened with age around the edges. I just wish someone would have told me years ago to moisturize my tiger. I do now...hopefully it's not too late.
As for scars? That same Emu Moisturizing Butter, or even straight Emu Oil, works on scars burns, wrinkles, and stretchmarks. Emu Oil also works for issues associated with arthritis. Try it, you just might find that it works on yours!

What Happened to Good Ol' Customer Service?

I am not a complainer. Having said that, I'm going to complain. It takes a lot for me to do this, but it's been on my mind for days and it's driving me crazy, so I'm putting it out there. What happened to good ol' customer service?

I've been in some form of customer service most of my life. I know what good service is, I can tell when someone goes out of their way to be nice, do something extra, etc., and I try to acknowledge it whenever possible. If something goes wrong, my order isn't quite right, I accept that we're all human and move on. However....

We recently had a building renovated. I've never been involved with something like this, so it's been a new experience for me. I was on-site every day, just checking in, in case there were any questions or problems. I even made the guys cookies, and I never do that! Everyone did a very good job, they were polite, even made suggestions for a few extras we hadn't thought of, and then did those extras in a timely manner.

We had spray foam insulation put in upstairs to insulate the new duct work. The unfinished upstairs was being used as the storage area for all the furniture and stuff from the main level, which was being totally remodeled. We were told to put everything in the middle of the room, as the ducts run down both sides of the room. We did this.

Here's my beef: At no time did ANYONE ever say "You might want to cover all your stuff with a tarp or plastic sheet so it doesn't get ruined from the overspray". We were on-site when they were there. They talked to us. The other contractors talked to us. NOT ONE PERSON mentioned how horrible the overspray is to clean up.

I don't blame MN Spray Foam and Insulation, their guys did the job. However, I am extremely disappointed in their lack of customer service on this issue. I know it's difficult to hire people that actually care about their jobs--been there on both sides. But come on, guys!

I have spent hours and hours cleaning and scraping that overspray off my furniture and things. I have things that are ruined and I can't get clean. I have used rolls of paper towels, spray cleaner, cloth towels, water, my hands are so rough from it all and I feel I have wasted hours of my life because no one thought to mention this one teeny tiny little thing. True, I never thought to ask either, but then I shouldn't have to. I paid them a ton of money, I'm the customer, and in this case, I think a little extra customer service would have gone a long way. Actually, it's not even an "extra", it's part of the job.

All in all, I'm happy with the way the building turned out and I can't wait to show it off. Now...back to scraping and cleaning that darn overspray....

Our new Membership Club will be starting soon! We've got lots of great ideas, many from our wonderful customers. The hardest part has been trying to come up with a name, so we'll be having a contest to see who can come up with the best name. What to give away? We're not sure yet....

We DO know that we have created a beautiful, very feminine fragrance that will be exclusive to our Club members. I am very excited about this one--it's light, but lasts a long time, it's feminine, but not overly sweet or cloying. We used Mimosa Absolute Essential Oil as the base--Mimosa has been very popular with the royalty on the French Riviera. We need to name this as well.

Other new goodies we're creating? We're expanding our line of products for men! Ladies, don't you want your men to smell--well, let's admit it--better than they do now? We'll be adding products and scents for our favorite guys. And hopefully just in time for Father's Day.

The Mother of Invention

Good morning! It's a beautiful morning here, the sun is shining, the sky is blue, and I'm still on the right side of the sod, as a friend of mine recently said.

We had an issue this past weekend and I had to create a new product quickly to resolve it. I love doing that--solving problems. What a great feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction! The issue was that a customer of ours had a mama goat with mastitis and her udder was swollen to a huge, painful-looking state. She had the look of misery on her face and in her eyes, it was very sad. The vet provided medication, but to help with it, I created a spray-on lotion that contained essential oils for healing. Of course, I tested it on my arms first, we don't test on animals first, even if the product is ultimately for the animals.

Here's the funny part--I LOVE this spray-on lotion for me! Yes, it worked incredibly well on the goat, she's got the energy back in her eyes, the swelling is down, and she seems much better. But now I've got a great recipe for a spray-on lotion that works for aching, sore feet and muscles! It smells good, feels good for hours, and you literally don't have to touch it, so our friend Jessica can use it too--she can't stand to touch creamy-textured products.

Ahh, necessity--what a great mother you are!

Don't forget to check out our current selection of lotions, and stay tuned because I'll be adding our new spray-on lotion soon! Available in any of our current fragrances, of course.

Spring Cleaning

We're in the process of doing our Spring Cleaning--and I capitalize it because it is an important event this year, for two reasons: Cleaning and Simplifying. As I walk through our house, garage, property, I see so much "stuff" and it really is too much. Do we need all this to live happily? No. It's true that it all has value, mostly sentimental, but I think we place too much value on the materialistic things.

So, we're going to start cleaning and simplifying. How, you ask?

We're starting in the house, one room at a time. We're starting with my son's room, going through everything in the room. First, the clothes and toys. We donate everything he can't wear anymore and the toys he doesn't play with anymore. As we go through everything, we clean. Move the furniture and the stuff, vacuum, wipe down the woodwork. We encourage him to do as much of it as possible--it's great training for his future. It also helps him learn that when he makes a mess, he's responsible for cleaning it up.

We're going through the house like this. The garage won't be as exciting, we've been using it as a dumping ground the past couple months! I haven't been able to park my car in it in all that time and it's amazing how easily you get used to that.

We have quite a few acres as well, and have to Spring Clean the land every year at this time. Apparently the previous inhabitants for the past century or so left garbage everywhere and either Mother Nature or they would cover it up with dirt. Every Spring Mother Nature pushes it up like so many daisies. So to complete our cleaning frenzy, I'll go out with a wheelbarrow and leather gloves and collect broken shards of glass, squashed metal cans, string, and old chunks of metal that I have no idea as to what they used to be. Last year I filled about 7 wheelbarrows full of this stuff!

The process of Spring Cleaning isn't fun, but when we're done, WOW! It feels so great to look around and see the beauty of everything, instead of clutter and dust. Why did we think we needed all that stuff?

Grand Opening of New HaEE Facility!

I'm so excited for us to have our new facility, I can hardly wait to move in! We are having a Grand Opening for it June 5-6. Not only is it bright and cheerful and sunny, we'll have products that people can purchase on the spot! We have a beautiful meeting room where we will educate people on our products, have parties, and eventually offer online meetings too.

And what a great way to introduce new products! We'd like to start using video more to not only show the product but also how to use it. For example, our Gardener's Friend Hand Scrub--it's perfect for after working outside. The ground luffa and pumice get into all the nooks and crannies and get your hands as clean as can be. And you don't have to smell like a man or oranges afterward, we'll make it in any of our over 300 scents!

In conjunction with our new facility, we will be releasing our new website, which is much easier to navigate and has a clean, botanical look and more functionality.

Want more? Okay... How about a new Membership Club? We are working with some of our key customers to develop a club that gives everyone deals on current products, special products and exclusive perfumes, and more!

We've been very busy the last few months--and it's so satisfying because so much is being improved--and sometimes I don't know if I'm actually working or just dreaming that I am. It's been known to happen!

If I Had a Magic Wand...

If I had a magic wand, I would change so many things...
I know so many good people out there who have had to deal with such great pain...I would help them all if I could.
I know there are a lot of issues with how we treat our planet...I would change them all if I could.
I know there are a lot of animals out there that need help...I would help them all if I could.

Right now I do what I can in my little corner of the world. Life is so short and we need to take care of each other, not because someone tells us to or gives us something to reward us if we do it, but because it's the right thing to do. We are in such a hurry these days that we forget that deep down in our core, we need to care for each other. Animals do it, why can't we?

If I had a magic wand, I would not change anything about myself. I would not change myself because I firmly believe that if I made all the other changes, the process of doing so would be so incredibly gratifying that I would change as a result and want to do even more good.
Now, where is that magic wand?