• My custom earphone kit came today; I had a problem with it and it didn’t come out quite the way I expected. They don’t take returns, but I e-mailed and let them know what happened and they’re going to replace it! I’ll reserve my review for then.
• I finally heard back from the farm about my Cat’s Meow piece. Turns out they are interested after all! I think all three of mine already have homes, but when I get them I will send pictures and they can order more of their own if they like.
• Yesterday I signed up for this tour of the Grand Canyon for next month when we’re in Las Vegas. It was about $220 for two people. I realized I never got a confirmation e-mail, so I went back to the site…and it now says $190 for two people. I signed up last night! I eventually did get the confirmation e-mail and it has the $220 price, so I am going to call them tomorrow and ask about it. There are plenty of other tour operators, if they won’t give me the lower price I might ask for a refund - then again, there’s a $25 cancellation fee, and that’s the difference anyway. We’ll see what happens when I call.

This week I sent several of these photos off to the Cat’s Meow Village people for my very own custom piece by their My World project. I already have a collection of several Cat’s Meow pieces, but I really wanted to create my own for the Enchanted Forest. I started the Enchanted Forest Preservation Society back around 2003, before Clark’s Elioak Farm came into the picture, even before anyone had contacted the landowners (Kimco Realty) to discuss reopening or preserving the park. Originally many EFPS members wanted to reopen the park, but everything was in terrible condition and more than 60% of the old park is now a shopping center. I appreciate that the farm has taken the lead in transporting, preserving, and restoring the EF pieces - it would never have happened without their involvement - but I wish more people were aware of EFPS and our early efforts to contact Kimco.

Anyway, I really love Cat’s Meow, and I knew that making a custom piece for the Enchanted Forest would be approaching magical for me. I ended up purchasing three of them, because one was $69 but three were $33 each - a difference of only $30 and you get two more. I had tried to get the farm onboard with the project so they could order several for their gift shop, but they didn’t seem interested. I’m not sure yet what I’ll do with the other two - I know a couple of people who either deserve them as gifts or would want them, so we’ll see what happens. Either way, they were only $15 each so it’s not a huge loss…I would have paid $69 for just one if that was all I could get. (Good grief, I would have paid $69 for one little wooden piece?!)

I elected not to approve the artwork beforehand, mainly because I didn’t want to spend the extra $15 - but also, I’ve been planning this for a long time, and I didn’t want even more delays! The pictures I sent weren’t quite to My World’s specifications, but I got several good shots that show the colors and details, and when I e-mailed them a while back they said multiple good shots could compensate for the lack of a single ideal shot. I also don’t really feel the need to approve the artwork because I trust the Cat’s Meow people. Their business has been around for a long time and they know what they’re doing. I gave the best pictures I could find - I even signed up for a membership at NorVApics.com to see if they had any good ones, which they did - and that’s all I can do…it’s up to Cat’s Meow to do the rest. It takes about four to six weeks for the pieces to be made and shipped to me…I’m so excited!