Private Stock Blogs

Making Your Orders

2008-07-24T20:02:00.003-04:00

for ties? You don't even have to get dressed to shop at Private Stock Menswear! Just point and click and press SEND and you can have your ties in a day or 2!

OK - well I'm back here in New Jersey after 5 days in hot sticky Manhattan. How did you like our display up at the NY Haberdashery? Wasn't it nice? I quickly bought 3 more of those tall ladder displays which we'll be shipping out to Chicago to trim our booth out there.

Last night in NJ we had horrific rain storms! Thunder and torrential amounts of rain. Gordie went to bed at his usual time - EARLY. Me, I've taken to staying up late watching my sister COOK MEALS ONLINE! My sister brings her computer into her kitchen and has 2 cameras and she talks and we the viewers Instant Messenger her while she is cooking. It's just the coolest darn thing. My sister has been keeping this cooking gig a secret from me for last the 10 months! She even hid away all the gear (wires and such) when Emily and I went down back in April for a visit. At any rate, her site is called www.JUSTOPIA.com. She broadcasts over this website called JustinTv (whatever that is).

Here are some photos I've snapped. Oh and I was able to post a few of my window box photos on Martha Stewart's blog. I had something like 50 hits a photo! AM I GETTING FAMOUS????????????? Nope, I'm JUST JANE!

OK leave me a comment so I know you are alive out there!

Best,

Jane

Getting back into my regular routine

2008-07-22T19:46:00.004-04:00

We're baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack from the NY Haberdashery Show! Was another fine production pulled off by our fearless leader Debra Granger. Good job/show Debra and thank you for all your help! Although the aisles were less filled this season, we did our share of selling our ties and publications. Thanks to all who stopped by our booth to see our fine neckwear and accessories.

So it seems we were locked away inside the cool Warwick Hotel and were spared the tremendous heat wave going on the Tri State area. Only felt the heat to slip out to drive home or to go out for dinner. Speaking of dinner, our children really picked up the slack and prepared us some fine meals! Even did a few loads of wash too! Hmmm maybe my skills are getting passed down to the next generation - YA THINK?

I always bring my camera, but I never seem to take enough photos. I sometimes get a little bit shy to snap the pix. Oh well, I'm posting what I took.

OK then, August 1st it's off to Charlotte, NC -- after that -- August 9th it's Chicago or bust! Then it's time to come back, pack up our daughter for her Sophomore year of college and get to picking all the Fall Orders! Oh and Emily was awarded a bit more scholarship moolah too! YIPPEE! Russell is still plugging away playing ball in front of many many college scouts. Will he go to college for baseball - -who knows...but just being away at school will be a wonderful experience for him!

Best,

Jane

Stuff I've been doing

2008-07-16T09:58:00.003-04:00

What...you think I'm just sitting around waiting for your orders or something? WELL I AM! KIDDING -- I've been busy as a beaver! I rarely sleep these days.

OK first things first, July 16th is here - the day after our lawn which usually turns to weeds. And guess what -- WE S-T-I-L-L HAVE GREEN GRASS! G-R-E-E-N grass! I can hardly take it. I'm taking pictures just to remind myself of the date and that we still have green grass.

See my front hall way? We have to be in NYC to the Warwick tomorrow morning by 6:30am! See how we can hardly walk thru the door? Tonight we intend to pack up our car to be ready for a speedy departure tomorrow morning. Will any of you be in NYC tomorrow ... COME ON BY AND SEE OUR NEW FALL 2008 LINE! We set up in the morning - but we always have time to show our ties.

Next up - I'M KNITTING A QUILT FOR OUR BED! REPEAT - I'M KNITTING A QUILT FOR MY BED! WHAT AM I COMPLETELY NUTS! Yes I am! I hope, #1 that I like how it comes out and #2 I hope it's not too itchy as it is completely made of wool. I think I will have to border the quilt with soft cotton fabrics just so that we don't itch at night! I'M KNITTING A QUILT FOR MY BED! I have to put this in writing to remind myself of the enormous task ahead of me. HEY, I'M WONDERING...HAS MARTHA STEWART EVER KNITTED HERSELF A QUILT????????????? I THINK NOT! Who knew this can be done???? I also must be nuts to take on a project in the middle of summer -- with a hot wool quilt on my lap knitting around and around! I'll be sure to crank up my air - speaking of air, it was on the fritz the other day, but the repair man came to my rescue! I was shaking ready for him to say, "Mrs. Cahn...you need a whole new system"- but nope, just a clogged pipe! YIPPEE FOR ME!

And last but not least - are you worried I won't have time to fit in baking for all you loyal customers???? RELAX - THE BISCOTTI ARE IN THE OVEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK hope to see you all over the next 5 days!

PS The last photo is of din-din tonight - turkey meatballs and spaghetti!

Best,

Jane

Just got Sam B's go ahead to

2008-07-11T20:18:00.002-04:00

water my lawn!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was not allowed to put the sprinkler near it up until tonight. But he tells me I have to run my sprinkler for 2 hours! Is he kidding me? OMG - imagine what my water bill will be???!!!! I'm going to let it go for 45 minutes to 1 hour -- and he wanted me to do this job starting at 11PM! Again...please -- I'm up at 5:30-6:00 every day. No way am I staying up that late for my lawn. So, I'm watering right now -- I started at 8:00PM.

Emily and I are watching the dog down the street this weekend. We had him here for dinner time, but then he sat by our front door crying so we brought him back to his house. We will go and check on him at 10 and maybe bring him back here for a sleep over. We'll have to see.

Next week we'll be packing up our line and getting ready for the show!

More soon!

Best,

Jane

Another Tuesday

2008-07-08T21:30:00.003-04:00

means Sam B. came to work his magic on our front lawn. I'm telling you, out lawn is a battle from Mid March when it starts to greens up until Thanksgiving when the last of the Fall leaves are down and picked up! Sam B. has sprayed his myriad of weed killers, fungus killers, oak grass killers to whatever else he has in his 1969 Chevy truck! And today was no exception. I always get a ring of my doorbell, Mrs. Cahn I just sprayed, please keep the dog off the lawn for a day - people too! I'm generally cooking or baking when he comes to do my lawn, so I always give him a cookie or a brownie or whatever else I have in the house!

I'm also posting my garden with more marigolds that I planted last night. Em and I felt we needed to get out for a bit after dinner and Home Depot was having a great plant sale. The deer do not EAT the marigolds, but I see they just walk and trample all over them! I hope these flowers make it until Fall! I love it when they get to big and bushy. Notice how Gordie seems to get into EVERY photo!

Oh we are looking after Gordie's best friend Webster who lives down the street. Remember him from last summer? He was our naughty house guest. We'll have to see how it goes this coming weekend! I'll be sure to have my camera out.

Best,

Jane

Getting Ready

2008-07-08T12:33:00.002-04:00

for next week and the Trade Shows! I decided to make this pocket square "board" for easy ordering. Some cone on now...make your orders for these really cool squares! Buy'em in all the colors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now I have to start writing my list of ingredients so I can start baking next week as well.

Busy busy busy!

Best,

Jane

What to do on another not so nice day out

2008-07-06T12:52:00.003-04:00

So what do you think I'm doing this cloudy dreary Sunday? YUP -- COOKING!!!!!!!!!!! You see I am ADDICTED to food blogs. A-D-D-I-C-T-E-D! When I see something I like (the pictures just have to grab my attention)I always think, I CAN MAKE IT ALSO! Gary already requested a rotisserie chickie tonight, so I had that in the back of my mind when I found this easy recipe for BBQ sauce! I made my OWN BBQ sauce and it was soooooooooooo easy! Here are some photos.

The last photo is of our Coco Pellie that we bought 10 years ago on a trip to Arizona. I always had him inside, but I decided to take him out, maybe bring us some good luck and SCARE THE DEER AWAY from my garden. We'll have to see!

Tomorrow is work...the sample lines will be going out to our salesmen and the last minute details of our booth will be coming together.

Best,

Jane

After July 4th

2008-07-05T10:03:00.003-04:00

Comes this morning, JULY 5th! And ... it's another yukky, humid, gray, misty day here in NJ. The kids went out last night and we stayed in. Our town cancelled the fireworks celebration due to lack of funds FOREVER. Was probably a good thing in light of the miserable weather. The kids went to the town next door and watched the fireworks display - said it was lousy. They think the fireworks stank because of the rain. Oh well - WHATEVER!

I decided we should have our own STEAKHOUSE dinner last night. We bought 2 Porterhouse steaks at the store and made baked potatoes, creamed spinach and tomatoes and onions. Sounds yummy right? Sure was! We even used the Weber Grill because in my opinion it really makes the food taste grilled! We were lucky the rain held off for our cookout. Too bad we couldn't eat outside, but it was just too hot and muggy. I don't think we've eaten outside yet this season.

On that note, it's time to plop myself in front of the TV to watch the Ladies Tennis/Williams sisters.

Oh, and the last picture is of Gordie - I just couldn't resist adding that photo!

Best,

Jane

I should walk into town more often!

2008-07-03T14:46:00.004-04:00

I decided to save on gas...why give away my HARD earned money when I can walk to our brand new gourmet market in town? I had a hankering for grilled fish tonight. I put on my favorite pair of CROCS and out the door I went. I got so far as 5 doors down my hill when I ran into our neighbors the Rebhorns. Have any of you out there heard of Jim Rebhorn the actor? He's been in many movies. Do you recognize him? Anyway, he's a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge NY MET fan as are my boys - so we were discussing their horrible favorite team. We also caught up on all the kids and what colleges and extra stuff they are doing in their lives.

Got to the Eden Gourmet where I picked up my fish. I had to ask MORE THAN ONCE for a bag of ice since I was walking home. Paid my bill and out the door I went. I was walking through our town pool parking lot where I ran into an old friend who I had not seen in YEARS! We met 16 years ago waiting for our husbands every night at the train station in town! They moved off to Asia for a number of years, and when they came back -- well we went our own ways. We chatted for a bit and I continued my walk home with my fish.

Now I'm back - in need of a cold drink of water. I will close for now and post photos our yummy (I hope) fish dinner!

Happy July 4th!

Best,

Jane

I want to cut these flowers

2008-07-03T08:26:00.004-04:00

AAAH - my neighbors down the street have this gorgeous color hydrangea blue shrub that I so badly want to cut a few blooms! The next best thing was to snap a few shots. Oh wouldn't they look so lovely in a vase in my kitchen? I love hydrangeas!!!!!!!! Thank goodness the DEER don't!

I have finished swatching the FALL 2008 Private Stock neckwear line! What a major job it was - but being that I'm super organized helped A LOT! Today, I'm sending out all our salesmen their lines. Our photographer has finished up photographing all the sets and 1/2 the line is already up on this site. Call me if you need a username and password.

July 4th is tomorrow. I'm sure I'll be baking something Patriotic and I'll be sure to post some photos. I'M ALWAYS IN THE KITCHEN! I love to bake!

Best,

Jane

Here is something you probably don't know about me............

2008-06-29T13:33:00.003-04:00

I am a BRIDGE AND TUNNEL PERSON! Does anyone out there know what that is???? Well I'll tell you right now with this little story.

Yesterday Emily and I decided to go into NYC for a lovely TAPAS luncheon. Tapas are small dishes of food - similar to appetizers. We ordered 3 Tapas dishes which made a meal! Oh we were so Continental!

OK back to the BRIDGE and TUNNEL story. After getting off the train in Manhattan on 34th street (who can afford to drive - tolls, parking, and hmmm MIGHT I SAY THE PRICE OF A GALLON OF GAS?)we headed on down to 19th street where the restaurant was located. On the way, we stopped into FISHES EDDY the NYC table wear store - a favorite haunt of ours! After browsing around but not buying anything - typical - we wandered into a store called FRESH. You ever hear of it? The store sells perfume and make-up -- aaah a Cahn girls' delight! We walk in and start browsing until the saleswoman comes up to us and starts her selling spiel. UGH! We started to listen and before you know it we both took turns in "her" make up chair. First question, "Where are you girls from?" First strike...she knows/thinks we're tourists but we say we're from New Jersey - HENCE THE TERM BRIDGE AND TUNNEL PEOPLE! Get it...we had to take either a bridge or tunnel to get into NYC - WE ARE NOT NATIVE NEW YORKERS (well at least - not any longer since we moved out of the city in 1991). So she proceeds to take off all our make up and describe in minutia all the essential ingredients in her products that she is lathering onto our faces. Now don't get me wrong - I know I'm not 21 any longer - boo hoo - but Emily isn't EVEN 21 years old! I HATE BEING LATHERED DOWN BY GREASY/OILY CREAMS! I liked my make up just the way it was and so did Emily! We must have had to be in that shop for a half hour or more! All we wanted was this really nice smelling bath salt scrub. And I kept saying to her ALL WE WANT IS THE BATH SALT SCRUB! The sales clerk kept saying well at least don't you want the mascara??? She was making me feel like a cheap skate with my now NON made up face with the oily products smeared all over it! Finally we pay and get the heck out of there! Em says to me, "I guess that's the last time we go into a shop that's quiet!" I SECOND THE MOTION ONE THOUSAND PERCENT!

So in honor of me being a SUBURBANITE here are some pictures of how much more my flower boxes have grown! I'M FROM NEW JERSEY AND PROUD OF IT!

Best,

Jane

The best landscaper in our town!

2008-06-27T12:56:00.003-04:00

We have a terrible mixed up front lawn. Don't know why, but we just do. Don't even ask about our "lawn" from last summer. It broke my heart daily just going out the front door. After my heart was broken, I would turn red in the face from embarrassment! Lawn, we had no lawn, we had a pile of weeds. After the weeds, we just had dirt. It was not even soil, but plain old icky brown dirt! 3 doors down our neighbors have the BEST lawn in town. So after whining all summer long to my husband, Gary had had enough! He walked down to visit with the landscaper, Sam Boccingelli. Hey, when I see you at the Trade Shows, if you can pronounce his name correctly, I will give you a free tie! So back to my story. Gary brings Sam B. up to our yard - our hideously gross pile of weeds and dirt. Sam agrees last Fall to re-do our lawn. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!! Hip Hip Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sam B. is an old Italian gentleman who loves loves loves his work. He takes on NO NEW customers. How did my Gary work his magic on Sam B. I will never know. Just that I'm grateful because we finally have GREEN GRASS! OK I digress. So after we the brand new grass comes up last fall after following all of Sam's instructions to a tee, we decide that Sam must maintain our lawn. My mantra is...come July 15th the weeds will return. Sam B. came back in March and started to work his magic for spring 2008. But.........yup .......those darn weeds started coming! Luckily Sam B. took his landscaping degree at Rutgers waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back when and he knows how to take care of the various little buggers that keep coming up! I don't know HOW MANY TIMES so far this spring and early summer Sam B. has spread weed killer. Honestly! I can't count the number of times - I'm not kidding! So if it's Friday, Tuesday whatever day of the week, Sam B. is here working his landscaping magic. In return I feed him with my baked goods and a nice bottle of Poland Springs water. The following pictures are of Sam spreading weed killer.

Tomorrow I will post how much my window boxes have grown in the 4 weeks since planting. They are looking fan-damn-tastick!

Oh and on a side note -- ALL OUR FALL 2008 INVENTORY IS IN!!!!!!!!!!! The last of it arrived at 8:00am this morning. DO YOU NEED TIES? CALL ME! I HAVE TIES. AND NOT ONLY DO I HAVE TIES, I HAVE DROP DEAD GORGEOUS TIES! Oh paisleys, stripes, neats, and medallions - and we did a line of solids too! I CAN'T WAIT TO SHOW THE LINE AT ALL THE SHOWS! Wanna make an appt or just come by to see Gary or me! WE'LL BE WAITING!

Best,

Jane

Our favorite dog!

2008-06-21T19:32:00.004-04:00

Today in New Jersey was a beautiful bright summer day. All Gordie wanted to do was to be outside all day long.

Last night we had 2 families over for a BBQ - parents and kids. But for us now, kids are all teenagers and OLDER! I used my Weber kettle grill and BBQ'd chicken and steak. We had a ton of side dishes and the food and company were a lot of fun. I have to say it was real LOUD in our house last night! Gordie had fun too, fetching the tennis ball as long as it stayed light out. He was so tired and groggy last night - it was as if he wasn't himself. He couldn't wait until the guests left and he could finally climb into bed and get some shut eye! On July 29th he will turn 12 years old! WE ALL LOVER OUR GORDIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This morning my family left me - my daughter had camp orientation and I don't think I have to tell you what my boys were doing. I used the time to clean the house, knit and start dinner. Since Emily is home and I have another set of hands...we made our homemade ravioli. Oh it was heavenly! I made a really great dough and we used some leftovers from last night to make a filling that was to die for.

Tomorrow will be a lazy relaxing day because we just checked the weather and rain is on tap for the day.

I guess that's about it for now. I'm blogging now for close to a year! Wow time flies.

Best,

Jane

Cooking and Swatch Cards!

2008-06-19T19:48:00.004-04:00

This morning I made my big vat of STONE CUT oatmeal for Gary's breakfast for the week. He likes this Irish oatmeal. Me, I don't eat oatmeal...can't stand the texture as well as the taste. I find it's similar to eating pebbles! Anyway, I must boil the water and then pour the oats into the water and stir stir stir for around 30 minutes. We mash a banana and sprinkle Splenda and cinnamon after it's all made. Me, I made homemade pancakes. I finally found a superb recipe on a food blog last night and couldn't wait to try it out this morning! I only ate 1 pancake since I'm trying to diet - Russ easily ate 8!

So after my BIG breakfast ... I tackled the next batch of swatches to make up the sample lines. Oh the colors and patterns are so Fall like. FALL LIKE -- TOMORROW IS THE FIRST DAY OF SUMMER FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait to show you all our new styles and designs.

Hope you like my photos.

Best,

Jane

The Summer Solstice is

2008-06-18T13:45:00.004-04:00

FILLING
READY FOR THE OVEN
COMING ON FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And in honor of this momentous occasion, the Cahn's are having a BBQ for their nearest and dearest. Just 2 families, but I just felt like writing that! So to be the HOSTEST with the MOSTEST I am starting my food prep today! On deck, my oh so velvety cheesecake with raspberry coulis on the side. Sounds heavenly -- right? The cream cheese and eggs are coming to room temp as I type. Pictures to follow -- ANYONE WANT THE RECIPE? Leave me a comment and I'll gladly respond.

On another note, just got a High School email saying SCHOOL WILL NEVER END THIS YEAR!!!!!!!!!!! No, that's what I just said. Honestly they are extending the school year 2 days because of the 2 days we were closed LAST week due to the storm and no power. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Will Russ's Junior Year EVER END???????? Will Russell ever be able to lay on his floor and play video games, Rock Band, and all those other mind numbing things TEEN do? Stay tuned!

All righty then, a whole bunch of swatches came in for me to start taping down onto swatch cards. I've gotta get my head around this task!

More later!

Best,

Jane

It's been a bit stormy in New Jersey

2008-06-17T13:05:00.004-04:00

these last few days, although nothing like in Iowa or the other states affected by all the rain. Right now it just got dark and a breeze is picking up so maybe we'll get a few rain drops later on. We'll have to see.

The last of the samples flew in this morning and are off to the sample maker. I'm still awaiting the 2nd group from the sample maker to finish up my end of the task. I really enjoy making the cards and deciding which pattern/style is my favorite and which design will sell out first. Can't wait to show you all our new line.

Today is Russ's last day of regular school and tomorrow start Finals. By the end of this week Junior Year will be completed! School is a marathon -- feels like it just won't end.

Em is still writing for her college newspaper - which is keeping her a bit busy. That and watching her Netflix of old Beverly Hills 90210 episodes. She keeps going on about the 1990's and the funny fashions!

That's all for now!

Just read up on how to make my hydrangea blooms turn blue...and I'm too late for this season. I need to make the soil more acidic and I should start doing it now for next year. Guess I'll be taking a ride to the nursery to have a look around!

Best,

Jane

Russ is taking the ACT's

2008-06-14T10:11:00.003-04:00

right now and we're all here on pins and needles. These standardized tests are killing us! We've tutored Russ -- and well we are waiting to hear how he thinks he did. If I remember correctly, the scores will be posted in about 3 weeks from now.

Then of course Russ must come home, change and drive drive drive for double header! I'm a bit undone as we're invited to friends house for a dinner party tonight and of course I'm going alone waiting for Gary to arrive. Ever since Emily started competitive swimming back in 1999 this is how it has been for me. WHATEVER!

Not in a Wegmans food shop mood this morning, so I'll put off the chore until tomorrow.

Time to head into Montclair to the Spice store and then to pick up Russell.

Best,

Jane

We survived the heat wave

2008-06-13T11:47:00.002-04:00

but many of our friends and neighbors in the town next door STILL HAVE NO POWER since the big storm which it Tuesday evening! The storm lasted all of 20 minutes but it did terrible damage to many of the old old trees in our very old and established neighborhoods! Russ's school was closed for 2 days because the school lost power as well. Yup, he's still in school. Next week he has 2 full days and then begins final exams. The long marathon of a school year will be finished for the 2007-2008 school year!

We also went to Russ's baseball team dinner the other night. Russell was honored with a special award as well as being made Co-Captain for next year. He was very happy and we were very proud. Russ's team lost 11 Seniors this year, but it's not all that terrible of a situation. The coach spoke about each kid on all 3 teams, Freshman, Junior Varsity and Varsity. He kept saying that they were trying very hard to groom another catcher for the team because they know this is Russ's last year coming up and he really was a major part of their wins. Russ calls each and every game, even tells, or I should say signs to the coach when he thinks the pitcher should come out of the game.

On that note, I am posting pretty summer flowers blooming in my garden. I hope it will be a banner year for the hydrangeas because I also enjoy bringing them inside my house and drying them to put in arrangements for the winter.

The line is coming along nicely -- next week I will have more swatches in hand to make up more of the line of cards. The following week, the new 9 FOLD swatches will be here and we will be complete. From there we are awaiting the rest of our inventory and we'll be ready to ship even before all the Trade Shows start! This is very exciting!

Oh no...Russell is just calling and there is NO POWER in the High School! Sheesh, I didn't think they would open without power - but I guess they have no choice.

Best,

Jane

COULD THERE BE ANYTHING WORSE THAN A HEAT WAVE

2008-06-09T21:25:00.002-04:00

OK first it was the crazy BAT flying in our house. Then the temps in NJ want SKY HIGH -- with today being by far the Hottest day yet. Russ has a miserable long day of school with not a speck of air conditioning. Yup, in the year 2008 NO AIR in our school district. So they sat in classrooms with the thermometers hovering around 98 degrees all day. I pick him up from school and he says he was so happy to come home to a cool house. He also said tomorrow will be a 1/2 day of school due to excessive heat. So we walk through the door, he's so happy to be in the air...AND WHAT HAPPENS AT 2:45PM? THE POWER GOES OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seems there was a fire in a major power grid that knocked out power to over 70,000 homes and businesses. OMG OMG...THE CAHN'S WERE A WRECK. THE TEMPS STARTED GOING UP as well as our TEMPERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were all miserable! We went out to diner that quickly became MOBBED with other hot hungry families. We ate and ran out of there -- too crazy. Came home and sulked until an hour later when the power returned! 4.5 hours of no power, but we survived! WE SURVIVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have POWER! POWER TO THE PEOPLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh I think I just lost it there a bit, but I am so happy to be cool and not ANGRY ANYMORE!!!!!!!!!!

Best,

Jane

Could it get any WORSE

2008-06-08T10:19:00.003-04:00

than BATS in my house?! NOW THE DEER CAME BY LAST NIGHT AND ATE UP MY STUFF AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Listen, we do NOT live in a rural town. In fact, we are so close to 2 big cities that it amazes me we have to many VARMINTS running around!

My other spider plant got ravaged as well as my pansies that were at eye level to the darn hungry deer. Who knew deer ate pansies? WHATEVER! Learned my lesson completely. I'm done planting things that don't say DEER RESISTANT on the container. All those pretty "bell" flowers were marked deer resistant and they left those plants alone.

At least I was able to sleep last night and not have fear of the bat! I still can't get over a BAT WAS FLYING LIKE A NUT IN OUR HOUSE! AN ICKY CREEPY BAT!!!!!!!!!!! A HALLOWEEN ITEM!!!!!!!!!!!! A RABIES CARRYING ANIMAL WITH WINGS WAS HANGING UPSIDE DOWN IN MY BASEMENT FOR MR. ANIMAL CONTROL MAN TO FISH OUT! BLAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!

It's too hot in NJ. How does my Russell play baseball in this weather? Sheesh...and he's a catcher with all that equipment!

Happy Sunday to you all!

Jane

YOU WON'T BELIEVE THIS STORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-06-07T19:53:00.002-04:00

Em was watching TV in 1 room while I was watching in another late this afternoon. You see it's HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT in NJ today...real HOT - HEAT WAVE HOT! It was early afternoon 4:00pm-ish when Emily screams out, "MOM THERE IS A BAT IN THE HOUSE IN IT'S FLYING IN MY ROOM!". I immediately jump up out of my chair and slam my door and start to scream to Emily on the 2nd floor! Oh it was frightening. I opened my door a PINCH and I see the bat fly up here! Then I really FREAKED -- FREEEEEEEEAKED OUT!

I counted to 10 and I sprung free from my room, ran down 3 flights of stairs only managed to get 1 shoe/flip flop on and out the front door I went!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gordie was following close behind.

So I was standing on my front porch watching the bat fly back and forth on my bottom floor. I was literally screaming in terror. With that Em rips opened the bedroom window and shouts out to me. We were laughing and screaming all at the same time. We decided she should call Animal Control in town. No luck, 4:30 on a Saturday aftneroon. So we decide we should call the police. Thankfully Em had her computer (of course) so she was able to look up all these various phone numbers. So the police told Emily that bats are dangerous--DUUUUUUUUUUUUH, to get out of the house and that they would call animal control for us. 2 minutes later the police called back and said animal control was on his way.

In the meantime we called our neighbors down the street...where are Gary and Russell -- playing a double header baseball game 1 hour from home. Oiy and on this SWELTERING HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT day in NJ! So anyway our neighbors/friends Jeff and his son Sam came up the hill each with a tennis racket in hand and an empty box to trap the sucker! The managed to capture the bat in our basement which was a good thing since we were able to close the basement door and leave the house. Jeff and Sam are my new heroes!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh do we have a tale to tell as Jeff said he never saw a bat sooooooooooooooo big before! His wing span was a minimum of 7 inches long AT LEAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4 minutes after Jeff and Sam trapped the bat in the basement and home they went up pulls Mr. 37 year being animal control with a netting and flashlight. He's toothless and ugly plicks on his nose, but a very nice man indeedy.

5 minutes later out he comes with the bat in this narly netting with holes in it -- and not netting holes mind you! He is an animal lover and asked if we would let him release the bat since he did not harm anyone. So I screamed out not to let the bat go on my front lawn!!!!!!!!!! He said of course not and also told us that we were the 7th household this week that had a bat problem!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE HAD AN UGLY ICKY SCARY BAT IN OUR HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know how I'm going to sleep tonight?! Seems bats follow people into houses by following insects or gosh knows what. Says we don't have an infestation in our house and off he went.

After that episode, Em and I had a wine spritzer each to calm our nerves. I'm ready to plop a FOR SALE SIGN in my front lawn! EWWWWWWWWWWWWW! WE HAD A BAT IN OUR HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh I said that a bazillion times in this blog. Must be due to the fact that I was out til 1:00am with my friends after seeing SEX AND THE CITY and a few drinks afterwards.

NO PICTURES OF THE BAT -- sorry!

Best,

Jane

I just had to take a BREAK!

2008-06-05T15:59:00.005-04:00

The ties are arriving the TIES are arriving! Now all the fun begins! I've begun swatching, I've begun organizing the inventory, and I've begun to ACHE ACHE ACHE! Well mostly my bum elbow is a mess! But that's old news. So let me get back to the ties. WOWOWOWOWOWOW! Can you wait til we break the line in NYC at the Haberdashery Show? Did you get our email regarding the show? Soon you will be receiving an equally wonderful postcard. Come on, call me for an appt. to buy our ties! They are BETTER THAN E-V-E-R!!!!!!!!!!!!! 973*763*3474 - pick up the phone and dial (or push the buttons - whatever floats your boat)

So back to my title of "taking a break". Since my elbow is aching, I went out and took a look at my plants. My hydrangeas are ready to BURST with flowers! As you all know, hydrangeas are my absolute favorite summer bloom -- well I lied, hydrangeas are tied with sunflowers, only the deer found my garden 1 summer and ravaged my plants before they even grew to 12 inches tall! My flowers are in my windows boxes for a full week and I can already see a difference in their size. Yup, SIZE DOES MATTER WITH ME -- AT LEAST WHEN IT COMES TO FLOWERS!

I have 1/2 the line swatched - and then 1/2 the line is just about ready to get shipped off to the photographer. After that we're on our way for FALL 2008!

So get ready for some great ties, pocket squares and whatever else we have to sell. And of course my double chocolate walnut biscotti!

Best,
Jane PS F.Y.I. you can click on the photo and it will blow it up - that is if you want to see my flowers and Gordie upclose and personal - that is up to you!

My Window Boxes are planted

2008-06-01T21:56:00.004-04:00

so my summer can begin!!!! I finally decided over the weekend to get my window boxes planted. I'm always so anxious to see how they will grow! I love love love my window boxes. Over 10 years ago, I read in my Martha Magazine about different boxes and found a neighbor across the street (who has since moved) to make me a pair! I've so enjoyed planting my boxes over the last 10+ years. Here is how they look today...I will try and remember to post pictures throughout the summer of their progress. I have a shady side and a sunny side so I plant differently to accommodate the different conditions. Remember, my plants are starting off small, but you won't believe how fast they will grow grow grow!

Emily is back from Los Angeles. Me, Gary and Russ went to pick her up this afternoon at Newark Airport...the 3 of us bickered the entire drive there and once we had Emily in our car...then the 4 of us bickered all the way home! You see Emily never turned off her cell phone in the plane and when she landed she had no battery!!!!! We live so close to the airport that we wait to hear from whoever we are picking up and then leave the house. Well Emily had to resort to USING A PAY PHONE WHICH SHE COULD NOT FIGURE OUT!!!!!!!!!!!! Imagine, that generation is clueless on payphones?! AAAAAAAAAAAAaaaah the convenience of cell phones.

OK tomorrow I start on more more swatch cards and we are waiting on the 1st of the inventory to arrive. My elbow is throbbing already just thinking about all the lifting and schlepping!

Best,

Jane

Memorial Weekend or LABOR DAY weekend?

2008-05-26T20:47:00.005-04:00

I think we mixed up weekends because we had delivered to our house 10 yards of lucisous brown mulch and spreading spreading spreading was what we did most of the weekend. What back breaking work it was -- and let me tell you, my Gary is in AGONY! He can't even stand up straight! So who do you think did the bulk of the work of spreading the mulch? Yup Russ and myself. OH BROTHER! But I have to say, the yard looks a lot more finished and neat and tidy. I never took photos of our hard labor - I'll have to go out tomorrow and snap some pictures.

We also broke out the Webber charcoal grill this weekend. We grilled up burgers 1 night, pizzas for lunch another, and more burgers and hot dogs. YUM YUM!

Emily is happy in California visiting her college room mate for the week. She's loving the California living! Tomorrow they plan on heading over to the Whole Foods for some celebrity sightins! Lucky Em.

Short week coming up -- with a lot to stuff into it!

OK more later - Oh and I also fit in a trip to my favorite knitting store to get help in a pattern I was working on. Got my sweater all started and am on a roll! I wore my latest creation to the store and the shop owner when GA-GA over it!

Best,

Jane

Could it really be

2008-05-22T19:47:00.002-04:00

Memorial weekend already? The UNofficial start of summer? NO WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! Hmmm so what are the Cahn's plans? Can ANYONE out there guess???? Yup, BASEBALL, BASEBALL AND MOST PROBABLY MOOOOOOOOOOOORE BASEBALL! The big scuttlebutt around these parts is that Russ's High School team is getting pushed around by some CHEATERS! The cheating team cancelled the first game of the NJ State tournament due to rain! Yes it did spritz, but all the other teams around played but us. So 2 more days pass and Russ's team finally plays yesterday. They played in between the rain drops. Just when we tied up the game to go into EXTRA INNINGS ... the hard rains came back. The boys played another 2 innings with no decision - still tied, when the Umpires stopped the game to pick up today where they left off in the 10th inning. So what do you think happened? The TEAM CANCELLED AGAIN when all the teams in the area played. BLAAAAAAAAAAAAH! So hopefully tomorrow the game will happen and it will have a happy ending for Russ and his team. Guess we'll have to wait it out!!!!!!!!!!!

Em's home a solid 2 weeks. Although she's happy not to be in classes with all the work, she misses her college and FREE life! No Mom around to boss her around, NOT LIKE SHE LISTENS OR ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So my big plans for the weekend will be to get a whole lot of mulch delivered so I can fill the beds up and hide the weeds! Oh Gordie just loves to garden -- he'll be thrilled.

Hope you have a safe and fun Memorial weekend out there...oh and Gary and I finished up the new line yesterday! Soon all the fabrics will be rolling in for me to start to make the swatch cards. Soon after, the finished ties, so we can get them to our photographer and up online again! Don't forget to call and set up a date to see us at the Warwick's New York Haberdashery Show July 17th - July 21st! See you all then!

Best,

Jane