The (other) Body Shop

HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU ARE AT THE RIGHT DAY JOB?

WHEN YOU COME HOME FROM WORK TO PRETEND YOU'RE BACK AT WORK

The kids masked their own cars for painting and then we had one crazy paint booth session. They learned a lot unmasking them to discover where all they had overspray. :-) We don't recommend anyone do this, of course - this is a closely monitored by professionals event.

The boys decided to name their own shop. They carefully considered for some time before settling on..... THE BODY SHOP.

[There might be a link to why our stuffed animals are named Pink Poodle or Porky(pine) or Long Hair or Bunny. If we spoke a cool-sounding foreign language that made these names sound exotic, that would really be cool. But, we're just the Armstrongs who like to call it like it is, apparently.]

Just Working

I'm almost speechless. I haven't uploaded pictures in a month - I haven't blogged or written hardly anything. I haven't lounged in the hammocks (much) or even played with the dogs! What we HAVE done....... is WORK!!!!! Oh, we've worked and worked and worked, alrighty!

Some time mid-July there was a shift in the invisible - like a tangeable CLICK! up to a new level of "busy". Since that shift, we've had to pack the cars in the shop at night and beg people to come get their finished ones. Jeremy hasn't had more than 5 hours away from the shop in the last month - monitoring and overseeing every aspect - he gave 90% of the estimates and retained over 60%. I started working 8 hours a day at the shop, too, which feels like part-time. We found a Daycare 1/2 way between our 10 minute commute from home to work where the kids could hang out - and actually read and play and nap and all kinds of things it's really hard to do at the Maaco - a summer Survival tactic (for everyone!) On July 24th we hosted the AM Business Connection for the Chamber of Commerce followed by the ribbon-cutting ceremony.... we are, I suppose, now "officially" open! And then we dove into planning for the Grand Opening Party and Cruise-In. I think that's when I abandoned the laundry and house-cleaning along with all frivolous things like sleep, etc. Quite naturally I didn't want to admit to anyone how much we're working. I couldn't face "I told you so!" or lectures on managing time or pacing... all recordings playing randomly on automatic in my head already. I felt more like the Little Train that Could chugging "I think I can". Because the fact is, "summer is the busy time" and having just started to break even, we're not ready for winter. Maybe a scrambling ant hill that is recovering after being squooshed when fall is in the air is a better picture. I can think of all kinds of analogies that are more picturesque than me sitting behind one of the three desks smiling and gabbing about beautiful paint or rust issues. To be precise, I have papers spread wide hiding the check book and other "important" things while I smile and gab - things I work on frantically between customers while Jeremy is checking the crew in the shop, who are the ones getting all sweaty-n-dusty with working. When Kristi came out to visit for a day we took in 10 cars - the two of us helping customers while more kept arriving. I don't want to hear about hiring someone, either. BELIEVE ME, we're praying about that!!! So far our "help" has sent 30% of customers away either on the phone or in person, so we need some nutty salesperson sort of freak who enjoys cars and car pieces and can put up with us eccentric bosses and be helpful, not hurtful. I'm almost scared for whoever steps up eventually for the position! (Who's kidding about "almost"?!) So........ that's what I've been up to lately.