Take me to the river........

As I sit and work on a purchase order today, the Talking Heads "Take Me to the River" begins to play on Sirius. I hate this song. I blame Billy Bass.



I cannot even guess how many times I've heard that stupid fish sing that song. Our former parts manager, Jim Reddin, had Billy propped up on the parts counter in our Westpark store. I wish I could describe what the parts department looked like and do it justice. If only I had taken more pictures of our former location. I described previously the old fashioned hardware store look of the store, but the parts department was really something.

The wall that was shared with our neighbor had been pushed forward in several areas as a result of their driving a forklift into the wall repeatedly. There were two giant hornets nests hanging from the ceiling. Each drawer had a number, and each part had a location. Jim had an index card system for tracking equipment sold to customers, even after we had added computers throughout the building. Oh yeah, did I mention that when I began working at Krebs there were only two computers in the building? There really wasn't a clear space on any flat surface, and in front of it all sat Billy Bass. Customers (and MK) could not resist that fish......and I hated it.

June 10, 2008

On June 10, 2008, I went to see the Indigo Girls in concert with Brandi Carlile as the opening act. At the time of the show, I was not very familiar with Brandi Carlile. I had fallen in love with her song "The Story", but had yet to really be pulled in by her other songs. I wasn't yet the fan I am today.



When we planned for the show, I ordered tickets for the couples that indicated that they were on board.....by the time the show came around, it was down to one couple and several girls. We met at Crush Wine Bar for meat and cheese plates and a few glasses of wine before the show. It was the perfect happy hour beginning to our girl's night out.

I was so excited about seeing the Indigo Girls. I have loved their music since high school. "Closer to Fine" and "Secure Yourself" were almost always used at some point during Search weekends, and "Kid Fears" had Michael Stipe singing backup. What wasn't to love? Oh, have I mentioned that I was also completely obsessed with Michael Stipe when I was in high school..... perhaps college too? Yeah, just a little bit. I think I was over that when I saw him live at the Pyramid in Memphis wearing a basketball jersey as a skirt.

Anyway, we get to Robinson and Brandi takes the stage. I've gotta say that she completely blew me away. When she stepped away from the microphone to sing "How These Days", I was amazed at how well her voice carried to the back of the room. Her entire set was great, and at times Amy and Emily would come out to join her.

Finally, the Indigo Girls took the stage. They played a lot of music from their newer cds that I wasn't as familiar with, but they didn't forget any of my favorites. Singing along to songs that I had loved since I was 14, I was having the time of my life........

We left after they said "Thank you! Goodnight!"......only to miss the encore performance of "Galileo". I was so thankful to January for calling me to let me hear it through the phone. What a great song!



I still love the Indigo Girls. Their debut album will probably be in my top ten favorite albums forever, and "Swamp Ophelia" was probably the most played cd I owned in 1994.....BUT Brandi Carlile remains in regular rotation in my cd player as well. Check her out if you haven't yet!

the store.

I'm guessing that most of you know that I sell kitchen equipment and gadgets, but I'm betting that most don't know the history of Krebs...... that we've been in business nearly 78 years.

Leo Krebs opened the original location in downtown Little Rock in 1933.  It was originally set up similar to a hardware store, but eventually transitioned into a supplier to hotels, schools and restaurants.

The store relocated to a top secret location off of 12th Street in the late 1970s.....  Ok.... it might not have been top secret, but it was hard to find.  I don't know how many conversations I had with people that were in our parking lot outside the building still unable to find us.  When they moved from downtown to the new location, the green shelves and several other fixtures featured in the above picture made the move to the new store.  These made merchandising a challenge, and the store still had the feeling of an old fashioned hardware store. 

With Helen & Pati.....the only other female employees when I started working at Krebs.

I had no clue when I began working at Krebs part time in 1997 that I would still be here 13 years later.  I had worked in restaurants for years, but terms like monkey dish, China cap, and disher were foreign to me.  Fast forward many price tags and a few months, and I now know the difference between a spoodle and spoonula.  I was learning things, and moved from inventory control into purchasing...... from purchasing into sales......and then, back into purchasing.  But my biggest transition was moving into store manager.......a store manager without a store.

We moved out of our LR location in January of 2006.  These are the last pictures I have from the old store.  It seemed so much bigger before moving to NLR.  Hard to believe that the old store, office space and warehouse would probably fit inside of the store we now have.

Krebs Westpark Showroom

My Westpark office.....with Wally's right through that door.

With Deanna inside old warehouse for one last look around.

So, we moved to NLR and I began helping make plans to remodel the portion of the building that is now the store.  It took two years to complete the remodel and get the store open. 

The above pictures were from January of 2007.  The first one is the view from the warehouse facing the entrance before we remodeled it.  The second shot is of an area that still had the office space intact.  By July of 2007, we had torn down all of the existing interior walls, the back wall finished and my office was in place.

The biggest change for me was when the windows were added! 

Once the windows were in, it seemed like things began to move quickly.  It wasn't long before we had shelving units going up, and merchandise moving into place.

We officially opened on June 30, 2008.  In addition to the commercial equipment and supplies that we had been carrying for 75 years, we added several retail lines that target the homeowner.  I'm proud of the work I've done......and continue to try to improve upon it.  It's amazing to look back at all of the pictures I took during the remodel.  We've changed a lot in just two years. 

Even Santa shops at Krebs!

Memories.......like the corners of my mind.

The weekend has finally arrived!  Stephanie comes to visit. Hooray! I haven't seen her in a year, and I cannot wait. This is the girl that I rarely go a day without speaking to..... and when we don't actually speak, there will be a multitude of emails and texts. I've known her since I was 18, and there is probably very little about me that she does not know.  I anticipate lots of fun during her visit......only one girl will be missing :(

The third amiga will definitely be missed.  We always have so much fun when we all get together.  I don't know why we don't do it more often.  In fact, I miss the days of running around Hendrix with these girls, and those guys that we spent our days goofing off with... Tom, John, Colin, Mitch, Jonathan.......  The ten year reunion a couple of years ago was a lot of fun, and I am so thankful that we were able to get to spend time together, but we really should figure out a way to do this more often.

Every fall I feel a bit sad that my time at Hendrix came and went so quickly.  I miss packing up and heading to the dorm.  I  miss listening to the Indigo Girls too loudly, playing quarters with the rule that you must name a Pearl Jam song, and many trips to Windy City Pizza. I miss the fun of being back together after a summer apart..... and I'm so thankful for all of the wonderful memories I have from those years.  

If I had to pick a song that most fits this period of my life, it would most certainly be "These Are Days" by 10,000 Maniacs.  I cannot listen to that song without thinking of the many shenanigans that we got into during our years in Conway.

Trick or Treat

I have always loved Halloween.  I love the jack o' lanterns, the costumes and the candy!  Oh, how I loved going door to door as a child and gathering as much candy as I possibly could!  Before we moved to Little Rock, we would usually trick or treat in Green Forest instead of Springdale or Fayetteville.  I remember receiving treats like apples and popcorn balls...... things that I would immediately dispose of if Mk was to bring home now.  I remember trading the pieces that I didn't like with my sister for stuff that I actually did like, but not before mom inspected each piece for needles and other unwanted objects.

The first Halloween that I really remember dressing up for was when I was four.  Larkin was going to be a pumpkin, but I wanted to be a skeleton.  I remember going to Walmart and picking out my scary mask, but the challenge was to create a costume to go with the mask.  Typically kids would just buy the plastic hospital gown-ish costume set that had the matching mask, but there were no skeleton set.  So, mom purchased me a white ski cap and some white long johns.  This was my costume, and I was thrilled with it.

The next year, my dream came true.  I was allowed to pick a full costume from Walmart.  I was allowed to choose whatever I wanted, and I was so excited.  I picked Darth Vader.  He was my favorite Star Wars character, and I was thrilled that mom was letting me get this costume.  The only problem?  I didn't have a lightsaber.  Mom solved that problem by giving me a wooden stake to carry around.  This was only a minor problem for me.  The pictures from these years must still be at mom's house, but luckily Wil Wheaton uploaded an image that shows what my Darth Vader costume looked like.......minus the wooden stake and plastic orange pumpkin......and younger sister.

My grandma and papa also liked to dress up for Halloween.  I think that it was the following year that mom made us all clown costumes, and we attended a party with my grandparents.  I can't really remember where the party was, but I know that when my grandma and papa came in, I didn't recognize them.  They were wearing those creepy clear masks that have makeup on them to look like a face......but in a totally creepy way.  There was even a year when they swapped masks, and grandma went as the man and papa went as the lady.  Such fun memories.

In recent years, I've been a pregnant prom queen, a Spice Girl, a senior from Mount Saint Mary and Wonder Woman.......

Mary Katherine has been a pumpkin, lion, cat, witch, lady bug, hippie and (my favorite) a vampire.

It's been two years since I've dressed up for Halloween.  I'm not even carving a pumpkin this year.  Mk could never tell me what she wanted to be this year, so we're going to do other Halloween activities.  I offered to rent "Nightmare on Elm Street", but she didn't really show any interest.  So..... any suggestions of what to do with a kid when Halloween falls on a Sunday, and we're not going trick or treating?  

Noel......My Bell.

This is a picture of Larkin , Noel and me in the winter of my 8th grade year.  I remember this being taken....... I remember that this was one of the few times we really had a good winter, and missed school for several days.  When I wasn't sledding down Kings Mountain, I was watching Noel do her best to walk in the snow.  She really was a living doll for us most of the time.
 
I honestly wish I could upload from several VHS tapes to this post because we have some classic video footage of Noel from my high school years.....barking like a dog at my prom date and talking about her Birkenstocks rank highest on my list.

When she was a baby, Noel spent a lot of her time during the day with my dad since my mom was teaching.  He would take her to work with him, and as a result she began addressing him as Wally at a very early age.  She just did whatever we were doing, and we didn't think too much about her absorbing it because she was just a baby, right?  She enjoyed movies like "Steel Magnolias" and "Christmas Vacation" at an early age...... I remember well sitting in the living room as she ran through yelling "Hallelujah!  Holy Chit!"  Of course my friends and I cracked up, which only led to her continuing to entertainin us.  Another fine moment was sitting next to her in the minivan and hearing her say that she couldn't "fasten the damn seat belt".

Given our age difference, Noel and I didn't live under the same roof for many years.  We did share a room briefly when MK and I moved back to mom and dad's for a three month period when MK was 9 months old.  She had bunk beds at the time, and I lucked out to get the top bunk.  She was so sweet with MK.  The picture below was taken while Noel did homework before her dance lessons one afternoon while we were staying there.  

We also went on a mini-adventure to Memphis that fall.  Noel loved the Backstreet Boys, and I had offered to take her to Memphis to see them live.  I'm still not sure how mom and dad got along with MK for the many hours that I was gone........she was a bit difficult at that time........ but Noel and I had a blast.  We had floor seats, but they were toward the back.  We waited until Mandy Moore had finished her opening act, and quickly moved up so that we could have a better view of the band.  This worked until the original seat owners returned from the concession stand..... still, it was fun to take my little sister to what I think was her first major concert.

Who would have thought that the little comedian I lived with would grow up to be one of the most positive role models I know.  She started attending summer camp at Brookhill when she was in 4th or 5th grade, and continued to spend her summer there until just two years ago.  I noticed recently that she is "friends" on FB with one of MK's classmates.  I asked how it was that she knew this girl, and the answer didn't surprise me at all.  Noel has thousands of friends on FB.  The campers she worked with would seek her out online and continue to share her positive energy.  She is smart, creative, sensitive to those around her, loving and giving.  Beautiful inside and out.

Noel is also one of three members of the Gieringer Mensa club.  She's yet to produce our club jackets, but we often do get together and discuss our superior intelligence.  While others doubt the reliability of an online IQ test, Noel and I do not doubt it for a moment.

Eve the Peeve.

The above picture was taken on July 27, 1992.  Eve and I were sharing a bucket on the Sky Way in the Magic Kingdom with my dad.  This was when I was still taller than Eve.  I was about to begin my senior year in high school, and Eve was going into sixth grade.......the age MK is now. 

Hard to believe that it's been 18 years since this picture was taken.  It certainly doesn't seem like it's been that long.  I think that Eve is my only sister that I never shared a room with.  The house on Kings Mountain had 3 bedrooms and 2 baths..... That meant two girls shared one room, and the third got a room to herself.  How I got stuck with Larkin, and Eve got her own room is still not something I understand.  Something else I don't understand is how Larkin and I ended up with a room decorated in a geese motif.  How many fourth graders want a bedroom inspired by Country Living magazine?  Maybe there are a few, but this girl is NOT one of them.

Being six years apart, we had drastically different interests while growing up.  When I was in 9th grade, the New Kids were the biggest thing in music.  Eve purchased tickets for the entire family to go see the concert at Barton.  Where she got that money, I still don't know.   I remember taking her with me to Conway to see Mr. Happy at Satchaboogie Warehouse in 1994.  I'm still kind of amazed that my mom let me take her with me to a college show since she was only 13. 

There are two songs from this period of my life that remind me most of my sisters.  The first is Tom Petty's "Yer So Bad", and the second is from the Juliana Hatfield Three:



But our real adventure came in 2000.  I won a trip to NYC for Thanksgiving weekend on B98.5.  I remember the first time I heard the advertisement promoting the contest.  I knew I would win.  When I called Eve, I simply started with "would you like to go to New York?", and before I could continue she said yes.  I explained that our flight and hotel would be completely covered, and we would just have to be smart about everything else, but we were both super excited....and super broke.  Eve was 19.  I was 25 and very recently divorced.

We went to the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, called home at noon from the top of the Empire State Building, saw sunset from the top of the World Trade Center.  Our Thanksgiving lunch was Italian food in Little Italy.  Our dinner was shrimp fried rice out of a to-go box while sitting in our hotel bed and trying to defrost.  It was an amazing trip.

For those of you that don't know, Eve is now happily married and expecting her first baby in January.  MK can't wait to have a cousin..... and Eve will have a babysitter when she's ready :)

Here's the most recent picture of my sweet sister that I stole from her blog.

Jill: 0/ Larkin: 4

Since my sister was upset that her name did not make the list of favorite things yesterday, I have decided to post a list of things that she had as a child that I always wanted......but never had.


1) Units Clothing.  If I remember correctly, Larkin's outfit was blue with a turquoise belt/sash.  I could be wrong about the color combo, but she'll correct me if so.  For those that don't remember, here is a picture (modeled by some girl we don't know) of the envied Units look:

Then I entered 8th grade, and Miss Mattes modeled daily the Units look.  Not wanting to dress like my teacher, I shifted my focus to things like Levis, turtlenecks and over-sized shirts from Forenza.

2) A pink "boom box".  I had grown tired of the Toshiba ghetto blaster that I received for Christmas in 4th grade.  Yes, I could listen to a tape from start to finish without taking the cassette out of the player, but it wasn't as pretty as the rounded one that Larkin.  It certainly didn't have the nice shoulder strap that hers did.

Mine looked more like this:

Not quite as girly, is it?  That's ok, though.  In 9th grade, I got a stereo system for Christmas.  It even had a record player!  Oh, and we ruined the miracle of Santa Claus for my sister Eve that year.

3)  A car.  True, she did have the 4.0gpa required for dad to restore a VW Beetle for us, but really??  I'm the oldest!  I was occasionally allowed to drive mom's Dodge Caravan (in color black cherry), and Larkin had her very own turquoise VW to drive around town.  While it's true that the Caravan allowed me to take more friends with me, it was not nearly as cool.

This image is almost the exact opposite of what Larkin's car ended up looking like when it finally left Kings Mountain Drive.  Her version started completely turquoise, and was  shipped off to VW Heaven with a silver hood and tail end from two separate accidents we had in it.  Honestly, I wouldn't mind having an older VW like this to drive around when the weather is nice.  They remind me of my childhood :)

I guess that's really about it.  Everything else we always seemed to get at the same time, or I did get first as the oldest.........

Oh wait, there is one more.  Larkin was allowed to have perms at several different points growing up.  I never had a perm.  I wish I had a picture to share of the exact haircut that Larkin had that I loved so much, but you'll just have to live without that image.  Instead, I was allowed to pick my own unfortunate haircuts.  Thank goodness I've outgrown the boy hair phase of my life!

btw........these are a few of my favorite things.

MK.
My new navy nail polish. (yep, I went and bought a new color yesterday!) 
Cool, crisp evenings spent on my stoop.
My family.
MLP.
Playing Scrabble.  
A nice glass of red wine......or white :)
Buying new jeans.
Hot fudge brownie sundaes.
Sunny days on the beach.
LaHacienda's green salsa & shrimp quesadilla.
Waking up without an alarm clock.
Going to the movies.
Smell of cookies baking.
Grey's Anatomy.
Jumping on the trampoline.
Christmas morning.
Playing pitch.
Sushi.
The smell of a baby's head.
Trying new recipes .
The Indigo Girls.
Dinner with friends.
Mini Reese's Cups.
The color green....in almost any shade.
The glow of candle light.
Peanut butter on a spoon.
Staying in bed until noon on a Saturday morning.
Diet Coke.
My iPhone.
Being the oldest sister.
The "Jill Ann" blanket.
The framed picture of Papa and me that Grandma Betty gave me the morning he died.
Sitting on a covered patio during a rainstorm.
Lilies.
Hayes Carll.
Sleeping on freshly changed sheets.
Floating around in a pool.
Pizza.
Miller Lite
A grilled turkey delight on Texas toast.
Traveling......and planning trips!
New boots.
Pedicures/Manicures/Massages.
Rock music cranked with the windows down on a sunny day.

I could probably go on and on, but I've finished my protein bar and must now return to analyzing a vendor reorder report.  Happy Tuesday :)  Oh, and Yay!  I have three followers already.

Rainy Afternoon Thoughts

It's been over two years since I've written a blog.  In fact, it's been about that long since I deleted the 200+ blogs that I had written.  I'm not really even sure where to start, but I've not been feeling as creative as I would like to be lately, so I figure this might be a good starting spot.

So......I'm home today completely enjoying the sounds of rain and thunder outside, and the smell of rain that is now being pulled into my house by my attic fan.  What a relaxing way to spend a day!  I'm also very thankful to be feeling better, and to not be heading to meet a surgeon this afternoon.  Oh yeah, for those that don't know,  I spent a good part of yesterday at the doctor being checked out for some serious abdominal pain.  Looks as though it was just an inflammation and nothing more serious, but almost 24 hours ago my PCP wanted to send me to meet with a surgeon to have my appendix checked.  Appendicitis has been a huge fear of mine for many years, so I'm relieved to be feeling so much better.

While home, I've been trying to determine what to do next to explore a creative outlet.  So far I've come up with changing my toe nail polish to a deep purple or other jewel tone for the fall/winter....... you can see that I need help!  Any suggestions?  I loved acrylic paint in high school, but really only enjoyed the hard edge style that Mrs. Esh pushed me to explore.  I'm totally intimidated by picking up a paint brush these days.  I have no idea what I would paint or what medium I would choose.

Ok, enough random ramblings from Jill for the day.  Not sure when I'll blog again, but it's a start.  Right?