The Last Monday… March 30, 2009

with my four-year old has arrived. I truly can’t believe that my baby girl will soon be five years old ): This week I’m going to dig up some pics from her first four bdays…but right now, I am catching up this pathetic blog that has missed out on the last 4 months of life at the Gage house. I went to download a recent pic from my camera and realized I hadn’t downloaded since BEFORE CHRISTMAS. So gear up for your torture and get a big pot of coffee brewing…this is a glimpse into the not-so-terribly-exciting happenings at our house.

This is what snow looks like in Knoxville, Tennessee…

Gorgeous, no??

The kiddos were OBSESSED with hot chocolate this winter. Little did they know it was sugar-free. Ha. I think I need to give it to them intravenously all year long, if it provokes these sorts of displays of sweetness!

This is Christmas Eve…the one gift they get to open the night before…they decided to open the gifts from each other…

whoa. I’d say he picked a good ‘un! (yes, it’s a cheesy Barbie car, sorry mom)

Santa and the reindeer are off and on their way with full tummies!

This is what January looked like at my house. Stop that, it’s nothing to be jealous of. And while parking on the street or stacked on top of each other in the driveway is GREAT FUN, count YOUR blessings. I’m sure you have things going on at your house that are just as dandy.

This was one of those impulse deals hubby is apt to pull on occasion. One stone toppled off the rock wall, and HEY! Let’s tear the WHOLE THING DOWN and RE-BUILD IT! See that red clay? Yes, me too, all over the carpet in my car, and on the rugs in my house…

It IS complete now, and yes, it does look quite nice, but getting there, well…my mom taught me not to say anything at all if it isn’t going to be nice.

This is “Penquins on Parade” at Stinky’s school. It was THE CUTEST program. Bet you can’t guess which one is Stinky?!

They had to wear black and white…yes, those are his PJs (which you may recall also served as his jailbird Halloween getup–now how is that for ingenuity?) Oh…this pic reminds me…big news on the Stinky front. He gets his glasses off next Spring!! He is SO EXCITED. He has worn them since he was nine months old!

Paintings for a nursery! I know…I had never done such earthy hues for a nursery, and certainly not TROUT, but the room sounds adorable and I am pleased as punch that my little paintings get to be some of the first visuals this little one will spend his days looking at…

Awwwwwww. This is Painter. We didn’t think we had any pictures of her. I had forgotten taking this one. She was such a gift to my boy. He ADORED her. She is and will continue to be missed for a long while.

Sassy Pants in the kitchen…

Let’s hope she ends up more interested in this activity than her mother.

Budding Soccer Star! (She HATED BALLET, as did I when I was her age) but she is ALLLL about some soccer. You can tell she is going to be a serious athlete, the way she plays with her hands in her pockets.

of course the tongue comes out in tense moments…

A little girl talk…

and a little snuggle from daddy…

and of course…couldn’t pass up the perfect photo op of a kat in the hat water battle in action…

speaking of water bottles…they are going like hotcakes! Better get yours…

My photo skills are rapidly deteriorating ): It is rare that I get a decent shot anymore. Oh well. I think it’s that whole thing they say… when you are doing a million things, it’s hard to do any of them really well…

Phew! You know you are so relieved that this is FINALLY DONE. That’s all I’ve got, and I gotta get crackin’…

Happy Monday!

GREAT NEWS! March 25, 2009

If you have ever ordered a Kat in the Hat tee you know that they can be…well, a tad delicate. And there are washing instructions to follow…and even then, they are still a bit fragile. NO MORE! They are now rugged and tough…the shirt will fall apart before the art does and we are so very excited. While we have always stood behind our products we are also always working to improve, and we are really happy to share this good news with our loyal customers. In addition, now we can do pretty much anything (we are working on some new products…but want to be super selective, and do things that aren’t already being done–send us your ideas, we’d love to hear from you!)

What else…we’ve moved into our new space and I feel a bit discombobulated, but love being able to spread out a bit more. The move was hellacious to say the least (especially since hubby is sick and I used muscles I haven’t used…ever. I finally hired movers as I was about to drop.) But, settling in, and cranking again. YAY.

Will be launching new “name”, updating site, collateral etc. soon…have completed the new logo and look forward to sharing it.

I usually like change, but all this is making my brain hurt…especially since it involves technology WHICH I DETEST…but it’s growth, and growth is good…growing pains, as they say, and better than the alternative.

Happy hump day!

Give Me a Break… March 20, 2009

Okay, so TECHNICALLY I got one…it IS Spring break….but geez, this week calls for another one without what I’ll call the “BIG 3”. As I was whining to Sarah about our baby kitty being lost, and the mailman taking off with  two huge orders that were meant for customer pickup (and bore no address or postage), she reminded me that these things happen in three’s. It was meant as a warning, but no need…I also lost the diamond in my engagement ring this week. Not such a stellar line up, huh?

Well, here at the tail end of it, there has since been a bit of resolution. We did find Painter, our precious kitten, but it didn’t end well. We live on a busy road and she didn’t know better. My kids are heartbroken, as am I. I really fell in love with her, and am so grateful for the brief time we had with her.

The post office somehow figured out where one of the packages belonged and took it to the customer…shocker. And a huge relief. My mother said “see? there is STILL good in humanity!”

And last evening, hubby found the DIAMOND! This is the second time he has found a stone that fell out of my ring (I am REALLY Hard on jewelry) but then I remembered, he’s IS an archaeologist. His eyes are trained for this type of thing. I will hire him out if you happen to have lost something on the smaller end of the scale 🙂

Certainly not the perfect outcome for everything, but I think this is what they refer to as closure.

And there is a mighty sweet kitty in heaven this morning.

Celebrate with Phyllis Hoffman March 19, 2009

This is a new magazine…very Martha Stewart-esque. Gorgeous photos, great ideas etc. What’s really cool,
is they asked me to send them some stationery to include in their last issue
(there will be more in the next issue too!) Even cooler…

they put me on the same page with Crane’s stationery; the “old-guard” if you will, and I feel quite honored 🙂 My wedding invites etc. were all engraved Crane’s
as my mutha (she’s a Gaw-ja peach) followed the Crane’s stationery etiquette book to the letter.

The top two are mine…

Then I did a “blank” invite where the reader can copy it on card stock and use it.

On another note…turns out my company name will be changing completely. It’s going to be quite a challenge to pull off…way more than I wanted to do, or have time to do, but now that I’ve decided on a new name, registered the domain, and filed with the trademark folks, I am getting sort of excited. I am going to need YOU to help spread the word too…but I’m going to wait to tell you the name until the logo is done. I will have to take baby steps towards the complete changeover as I have scads of collateral materials, the website, accounts….everything under Kat in the Hat (which has been around since 1992!) Quite a bit of undoing to do…and I’m KICKING myself for not looking into this stuff years ago…but it’s a fresh, fun start and I love that I get to create something totally new.

Now, back to making water bottles…ha. The fun never ends.

Big News for Kat in the Hat… March 17, 2009

A little bit bittersweet, but we’re rolling with it. We are gearing up for something (not quite ready to let the KAT out of the bag) that will take our little company to a new level. That new level is also slightly higher profile than what we are accustomed to. Through the years, our name has raised an eyebrow or two…business-savvy folks worry aloud, “How can you use that name? Have you registered that name?” We never worried much…”who’s paying attention to us?” But finally we decided it would be prudent to investigate. Lawyers were put to the task of finding out once and for all what the Seuss folks would think of our version of their name…and in the end, it was decided, probably best to come up with a new name. It seems really crazy, and really scary–we’ve spent nearly 20 years building our brand…but it needs to be done, so again, we’re rolling with the punches.

We think we have a new name…very similar to the old (looking into it to make sure we are cool before we alert the masses), and we’ll keep the same look for the time being until folks figure out that it’s still “us” and then maybe Kat will get a new look too…maybe not. We’ll see. Lot’s of logistics to tend to, but for now…wanted you along for the ride, so pile in! And help us spread the word. If it looks like Kat in the Hat, then it probably is…kind of like getting married. Same girl, different name.

And, as always…we’re still creating new stuff on a near daily basis…here, the latest designs:

This is actually art that was used on a Sassy Pants bday invite a few years ago. A customer dug it up from our site recently and requested it for a lunch box…

so “Clara Fairy” will now be offered as a tee design.

And we’ve had many requests for a new pirate, so this one’s for you!

Now…I think I’m actually going to add all the new stuff of the last month or so to my site!

Introducing…FurryFace Designs by Kat! March 13, 2009

I see a pattern here….I preface every post with the same thing…procrastation+kathryn=new stuff! and then, “this is not yet on the site–got to have it now? email kat”. Now that we have that out of the way…I hope to get it to the site this weekend. Phew!  This one has been a long-time coming. Finally, I said to myself, FurryFace can wait no more. If you’ve ordered a FunnyFace, you now how it works…you select all the features, to create your art and then you can put it on cool stuff. And we are introducing an AWESOME new product that we have a sneaking suspision, the dog-lovers are gonna flip for…heavy duty, large ceramic pet dishes!! oh yeaaaaah. Eventually we’ll add cats too, but hold your horses. Geez, I guess we could do those too…the possibilites are endless.

You Could Have Seen This One Coming… March 12, 2009

When I procrastinate…I DESIGN. A few new, for YOU. Not on site (along with a bunch of designs I posted a while back…will try to do that SOON). Want one NOW? email me.

So much to do, so little time…

I remember looooooong days at work, where I watched the clock and prayed for the end of the day to come. Now, I pray the day could be just a smidge (okay, five or so hours) LONGER. And if I wasn’t getting so old and tired, I’d wish I could just double, even triple the hours in the day. Take that to mean, I am crazy, busy and can’t seem to catch up. If I ever could, I would post some new stuff…don’t hold your breath! There is so much going on here at Kat in the Hat, and all REALLY exciting. We are in the process of increasing my work space…with poor hubby slaving away on all sorts of wonderful rolling storage, there is tons of new equipment rolling in, and so many new capabilities. We are making the leap to bigger and so much better and I can hardly wait to share it all with you.

Sassy Pants could not be more obsessed with her upcoming birthday–pretty much all we talk about. Stinky doing ALL the sports and getting so big I hardly recognize him.

Spring (and daylight savings time) makes me a very Happy Kat! Speaking of Happy Kats, er, cats…we have a new one. Hubby dragged her skinny little tail home from the river and here she now resides. Her name is Painter. Long story–will explain another time. For now, best to STOP PROCRASTINATING (I have learned this is a real talent I never knew I possessed 🙂 and to guzzle some more joe.

Happy Day!