The STUFF Sisters

Survival Mode

24 years. Countless challenges. Two sisters. One vision. It is with very heavy hearts that we have made the tough decision to transition into “survival mode.” We have braved every setback in the last 24 years without ever cutting our hours. However, extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures.

24 years. Countless challenges. Two sisters. One vision.

It is with very heavy hearts that we have made the tough decision to transition into “survival mode.” We have braved every setback in the last 24 years without ever cutting our hours. However, extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures.

Starting tomorrow, March 16, we will be closed three days a week. We will be OPEN four days a week. Closing for an unbroken 72 hours each week will help protect our customers by significantly reducing the risk of spreading viruses within our walls. We will, of course, continue to clean and disinfect every surface, and we will spray our store each night with disinfectant.

Our new hours will be:

Monday: Closed
Tuesday: Closed
Wednesday: Closed
Thursday: 11AM – 6PM
Friday: 11AM – 6PM
Saturday: 11AM – 6PM
Sunday: 12PM – 5PM

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Easing Back

When the new parameters for my behavior with shopping carts was agreed to by both parties, I instituted them on the very next visit, which was last Friday.

I am easing back into wanting to go the grocery store. As in, on one of my days off, when there isn’t a time crunch or a huge list to be purchased, I will enter the store. Alone or with my husband, I am easing back into what was a huge part of my life for so many years.

I have written before about myself and grocery stores. My last two trips to the store have been with my husband and almost a month apart. Both very different experiences. One got me a “talking to,” and the other, after following preset parameters from the “talking to,” got me a good dose of the stink eye.

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Living With Cancer

Let’s start with the simple truth: Both of our parents have cancer. At the same time, in their separate homes.

Let’s start with the simple truth: Both of our parents have cancer We need to use in home care for Alzheimer’s or dementia family members. At the same time, in their separate homes. One is in chemotherapy for a cancer that has been battled four times. One is in a remission that will not last. Heck, it’s not really remission. It’s just a wonderful string of days that lasts until the cancer pronounces itself and the chemical treatments resume.

But what they are both doing beautifully is living with cancer. Truly living. And the gift they have given us is that they have let both of us in for the private appointments, the fears, the sickness, the good, and the bad. The days that seem numbered, and the days that never end.

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Casey Faces Her Election Frustration

I am buying myself a new piece of jewelry today. I know many of you know I am being completely serious. But, for people who don’t know me as well, let me explain.

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Time To ‘Fess Up

Yesterday, like most days since our son left for college, I did not want to go to the grocery store. We needed very little, and truly I believed they were all things we could do without for the rest of our lives. The list was maybe seven items long. So I came to my senses and began negotiations with my husband.

“Do we really, really need mushrooms?” I demanded.

“Yes, if you want me to make this egg thing you love with the kale,” Mr. Wonderful answered.

“Can the rest wait?”

“Sure. For a few days,” he wisely stated. “Just drive me by the store, and I’ll run in while you wait.”

Done. I didn’t even wince or make a pucker face.

The routine when we get to the grocery store near our home – not the one near my business, which has another routine of its own – is that I drop him at the door and then circle the car to the west of the lot and watch for him to come out. Then, lazily, because I am off going to the grocery store right now, I pull up and pick him up and speed off. I am ‘fessing up right now to the fact that this has happened a great deal and not just yesterday. I am owning it.

But yesterday, when I pulled the car to the west of the lot and got out of the car, I bathed myself in the beauty of the two gorgeous, huge crab apple trees that grow along the embankment. I forget about them every year until I see them. The smell was of my favorite childhood home and the magnificent old crab apple tree that grew there.

Every spring that tree exploded with blooms that were massive. My sisters and I danced underneath it, shook its branches to be showered in petals, and pretended the petals were pink snow on the day every year when it gave up its finery for leaves. I remember my sister Casey being a “bride” underneath it, and the petals that cascaded down her dress were being “thrown” by the flower girl – not the older sister shaking the thickest branch.

If I had gone into the store – grumbling all the way while grasping my cotton grocery bags – I believe I would have missed this grandeur. Pure justification, I believe, for never entering a grocery store again.

What if I miss something? Something very important?

The Why Is Important

STUFF made a commitment many years ago to support local artists and to be active members of our vibrant community. This is true of both of us in our personal lives as well.

We all want to know that we are making a difference when we shop. Heck, when we do just about anything. The “why” in all our actions is important, and the effects can be long-lasting.

STUFF made a commitment many years ago to support local artists and to be active members of our vibrant community. This is true of both of us in our personal lives as well. Each year since the first one, we have renewed that commitment by setting higher goals for our support of local not-for-profit organizations.

Please join us this year on any of the 20 different nights listed below. By shopping during one of these great charity parties, that charity will receive 15% of your purchase, and all the money raised stays local.

Yummy drinks, delicious snacks, and STUFF’s signature bowl of M&Ms makes each night complete. Magic serendipitously shows herself almost every evening when connections are made between the dedicated charity partners and our customers who want to know just a bit more about possibly doing just a bit more.

Let’s keep making a difference…together.

AIDS Walk Kansas City
November 10, 2015 – 5:00 to 6:30 pm

Great Plains SPCA
November 11, 2015 – 5:30 to 7:00 pm

MOCSA
November 12, 2015 – 5:00 to 6:30 pm

Wayside Waifs
November 13, 2015 – 5:30 to 7:00 pm

The HALO Foundation
November 17, 2015 – 5:30 to 7:00 pm

Girl Scouts of NE Kansas & NW Missouri
November 18, 2015 – 5:30 to 7:00 pm

RevolveKC
November 19, 2015 – 5:30 to 7:00 pm

SAVE, Inc.
November 20, 2015 – 5:30 to 7:00 pm

Green Works in Kansas City
November 24, 2015 – 5:00 to 6:30 pm

Hope House
November 30, 2015 – 5:30 to 7:00 pm

Women’s Employment Network
December 1, 2015 – 5:30 to 7:00 pm

Em’s Spotlight
December 2, 2015 – 5:00 to 6:30 pm

UMKC Women’s Center
December 3, 2015 – 5:00 to 6:30 pm

Jackson County CASA
December 8, 2015 – 5:30 to 7:00 pm

Kansas City Actor’s Theatre
December 9, 2015 – 5:30 to 7:00 pm

Kansas City CARE Clinic
December 10, 2015 – 5:30 to 7:00 pm

Reach Out & Read KC
December 14, 2015 – 5:00 to 6:30 pm

Good Samaritian Project
December 15, 2015 – 5:30 to 7:00 pm

The Whole Person
December 16, 2015 – 5:30 to 7:00 pm

Hope Care Center
December 17, 2015 – 5:30 to 7:00 pm

Why We Host Wings of Hope

Every day, someone enters a treatment center for cancer. Every day, good news is handed out. Every day, bad news is received. But for two days a year we childishly imagine cancer takes a break so we can celebrate a wonderful season full of hope and renewal. Join us this weekend. Help us raise money. Help us make this season bright. We thank you for your business. Every day.

Every day, someone enters a treatment center for cancer. Every day, good news is handed out. Every day, bad news is received.

“Every days” have happened to the people in these pictures. Our family. Our friends. Their family and their friends. It seems never-ending.

But for two days a year we childishly imagine cancer takes a break so we can celebrate a wonderful season full of hope and renewal. Those two days are when we open our store wide to our customers and our city and put on a great party, Wings of Hope. It is a holiday open house, and it is a crowning moment in our year. We take a breath right before our season kicks it into high gear to laugh, tell stories, and shop for friends and family.

As in years past, we are donating 20% of every purchase this Saturday and Sunday to a cancer research fund named for our friend Susan Henke Miller. She will be with us again this year – so many years after we thought we would lose her to her cancer.

Join us for an “every day” this weekend. Help us raise money. Help us consume great drinks, delicious snacks, and STUFF’s signature party food: peanut M&Ms.

Help us make this season bright.

We thank you for your business.

Every day.

p.s. These pictures from previous Wings of Hope parties remind us of our fantastic past. What wonderful days they all were.

Brick-And-Mortar

I said something a couple days ago and it has been bumping around in my head since. I think I should share it.

“We only have one store. One brick-and-mortar store. One actual, real-life, real-time store. You can touch the stuff, we can see you and feel you. We can share a smile and a conversation face-to-face with you. Just this one little store.”

Sloane and I were speaking to illustration students at the Kansas City Art Institute about choices.

One authentic store. That is what we wanted. That is what we built. That is why we continue to work so hard. It is tangible. It shares the joy of art and creativity with so many. It is never easy.

But, most things worth having in life aren’t easy. We were raised to know that and that is why you will find us, The STUFF Sisters, at our store, again today.

We hope you will come visit soon. We believe it is worth the journey.

The “Perfect Storm” Tech Mess

For many years we – The STUFF Sisters – have dedicated August to a month long Rug Sale. It is our way to treat our loyal customers to a great deal on the rugs we proudly sell at our store. But, this year it seems the “Tech Gods” were conspiring against us.

A couple weeks ago we discovered that our email host wasn’t working and our customer emails had not been going out, so our customers missed our colorful emails about our fantastic sale. Then last week our server went down, making it impossible for us function online. Then today, our phone lines went down. And, AT&T still hasn’t repaired them. Sloane was on hold for over 45 minutes (using her cell phone of course) begging for them to come quickly. She only rolled her eyes and laid her head on the desk a couple of times.

Today, of all days, the last day of our BIG FANTASTIC RUG SALE.

We have such kind and reasonable customers. One even tracked us down of Facebook to tell us the lines were down. Sloane was able to get his order over her cell phone. And, two more customers were kind enough to let us try and call them after hours to try and help them get their orders in before the deadline. But, what about everyone else? We started to worry.

Then Sloane had an idea…

She turned to me and said, “Let’s just extend the sale.” I immediately went to work getting the extension approved. And, since the whole month of August was a such a tech mess, we decided to just “go big”. We worked to extend the sale for another full month. It was time for an official “do over”.

Starting tomorrow – the 1st of September – we are going to try this again. You will be offered the same 20% off and free shipping deal on all our rugs until September 30, 2015. Wish us luck. Keep your fingers crossed the the “Tech Gods” will protect us this time.

We don’t often talk in our blog about sales and deals. Because we think it is more fun to talk about life, art, family and share personal stories. But, this is turned into a story about small business and what happens when a family owned business faces challenges that are frustrating and can cause our customers to be frustrated too.

Please know we work hard to avoid these situations. But, when life gives you lemons…you have to find a way to make lemonade. We hope you will take full advantage of the extension of this fantastic opportunity to purchase our gorgeous rugs at a discount. If you missed the August sale, you have a second change. If you purchased rugs in August, you have a second chance to buy more at the discount. And, if you didn’t know about the August sale, you now have the chance to go wild buying rugs.

Meanwhile, we will be dropping pennies in every wishing well in town until our luck improves.

Thank you for supporting our small businesses. It matters and we are deeply appreciative.

PS. AT&T says they are coming tomorrow morning to fix the phones. We could use a few “good luck” wishes about now.

This is us on the way to get donuts to celebrate having survived August.

A Hug That Changed My Life

Yesterday I hugged a customer at the store. I am a hugger. I have always been a hugger, and I plan to stay that way. I believe hugs could save the world.

Yesterday I hugged a customer at the store. I am a hugger. I have always been a hugger, and I plan to stay that way. I believe hugs could save the world. I hug people, trees, dogs, cats, and the occasional lilac bush. I often end my notes with, “hugs….” A hug will set you free.

But yesterday this particular hug deeply changed my life forever.

A woman came to the store to shop in support of a local school. We were hosting a charity shopping day at the store. She bought a pile of gifts. She was generous with her shopping, both in what she chose for others and in splurging a bit to help the school. At one point, she handed me two handmade artist plaques and said she wasn’t sure who she would share them with, but she just knew they would love them.

When we were finishing her sale, I found myself in a conversation with her about her battle with cancer. She has stage 4 colon cancer. She has been in treatment for over two and half years. She is beautiful. If she didn’t have the tell-tale regrowth hair that often screams CANCER to the world, I would have never known she has cancer.

She spoke frankly with me. She never looked away. She was honest, direct, kind, and flawlessly open. She didn’t feel sorry for herself. She did not hide her pain or dramatize it. She was heroic.

I came around the counter and asked if I could hug her. She graciously said yes. We embraced for longer than you would normally hug a person you just met. Her hug was warm, kind, and open, just like her words.

I had to take a handful of deep breaths when she left. My life was forever changed. I believe I will remember our exchange for the rest of my life. My wish is that the memory will come to me often. I deeply hope I can grow to be as honest, giving, calm, and willing to be fully alive as this remarkable woman.

What happens next is unknown for her and for me, but isn’t that reality for all of us?

Hugs…

Here is a handful of hug-moments. Note the joy, love, and happiness being shared.