Steve here: OK, so this morning I walk into the shop to say 'Good Morning' to everyone and Ginny spins around (top photo) and totally surprises me with that look. Yes, I'm a little dense and I was not up to speed about Halloween. Ginny is quite the character and prankster.... but just you wait and see what I have in store for her.. heh, heh.
xxx
Steve here: Customer Marc from California, to show his appreciation for Tammy, designed and assembled this holiday wreath and sent it to her. It arrived yesterday. And what a wreath! Marc added blue and green ornaments along with blue lights. Yes, this wreath lights up. There's a cord coming out of the back of the wreath plugged into the wall.
When Marc loans out his puzzles to friends he also includes a photo album with pictures of most of his Stave puzzles. That way he gives his friends a jump-start. Now, you know I would never, ever do that because I enjoy tormenting our friends with no picture. But Marc has a heart of gold and he wants everyone to be happy. And Tammy supplies him with many of the pictures, which Marc appreciates very much and therefore the wreath.
Steve here:
OK, I admit it. I need help with my blog, particularly when I am away. So I've asked Jennifer to give me a hand. You'll know who is doing my blog by the intro. Either it will say "Steve here" or "Jenn here". Most of you know that Jenn has been here over 20 years and today she is in charge of 10-saw puzzle crafting department (while Paula is in charge of marketing). Jenn sees all kinds of interesting things going on in Staveland and she is perfect to help me out with my blog. So fasten your seat belts!
xxx
Steve here:
Hopefully tomorrow/Wednesday we will be re-introducing our popular Gobble-Gobble game but with a new twist: 2 special coupons can be earned when you hit certain scores. For instance, tomorrow when you hit '100' points you get Free Shipping. And when you hit '180' you get 15% off you entire order. But you can only use one coupon per order. These coupons are good for 24 hours. Two new ones appear each day. Check it out.... Gobble-Gobble!!
Three days ago a good customer, frustrated with my Trick puzzle "Little House of Horrors", emailed me asking (begging, really) for hints. I responded: "No Chocolates, No Hints". He emailed: "No Hints, No Chocolates". So we had a stand-off which lasted all of 60 seconds. We express-mailed the hints and he express-mailed 2 big boxes of amazing chocolates. Here we are fighting over them. Left-to-right, Martha (my wife and controller), Jenn, Tammy and Paula.... if fact, they are all my controllers. The customer's message in the chocolate box was "Thanks for all the headaches!"
Ahem, upon doing the puzzle with hints the customer emailed: "Christopher (his son) and I agree that you are a genius. Even with the hints from Jennifer received this morning, this is one crazy puzzle. Many more permutations than even "Champ." This is one beautifully designed puzzle!" But, not to worry, my controllers will not let my head get too inflated.
xxx
Alex and Lori are true-blue Stave Puzzlenuts from Manhattan (below with Paula and me.) They had never been to Staveland so last month they took the leap. They stayed an hour north at the Rabbit Hill Inn which is loaded with Stave puzzles for guests. Alex told Lori that he wanted to veg out and take a break from puzzling.... but the lure of all those puzzles was too much... he got totally hooked...again! Upon leaving Lori said “Thanks for making our life so much fun” then Alex said, “No, thanks for making our life so miserable!”
PS: They brought carrot cake, apple crumb pie, and cheese cake from the Grand Central Station bakery.... YUM!
This morning, Friday, I received an email from Evan McGlinn, our PR whiz. Last night he was sitting on British Airways plane bound for London when he picked up new Wired magazine and was thumbing thru it when he came upon an article about us and Champ, which he knew about. But WOW what a huge beautiful photo of Champ. That's Evan's thumb in lower left holding Wired as he took the photo with his iPhone. I do not have a copy of this Wired yet so I'm going to run down to Borders and pick one up.
So here I am in Mexico, south of Cancun, for 3 weeks. Top photo is me with grandson Simon, going on 4, in villa pool. Next photo is Simon with his father, Michael, our son, and Stave's webmaster.... they live in Boise. Final photo is Martha with Simon's mom, Harriett, in Tulum, ancient Mayan city on coast. Mexico is definitely an acquired taste but we had a nice time.... sure beat freezing our buns off in Norwich.
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