Chronicles of Nana Continue

The last I left you, I was working on ordering hangers and completing legal paperwork. I am happy to announce I have done both. I was moving onto getting my three beautiful display units from Alphabet Moon in Davis, which closed, to Atkinson Storage so that our cars can remain in our garage.

I realize most people would not think of wood display units as “beautiful” but as a retailer—and knowing how those rolling metal racks are a dime a dozen—these units have class and this is what downtown Dixon needs more of, especially on my side of the street where there are other, not-so-pleasant looking entities. I want my new store to be what they have been in the past: a very pleasant shopping experience that exudes cherishing babies and relishing parenthood—with a little fun sprinkled over the top.

But these puppies were heavy and we were not going to move them easily. My husband said they weighed a ton and followed that with, “Can’t you just stay home and plant flowers?” In step great friends who own Lorente Productions which is a company that moves sound equipment that really does weigh tons. Steve handled everything and made it look easy with the help of my son and my ever-so-not-optimistic husband.

One of the guys would lift up an end of a unit using a big dolly while we placed the 4-caster furniture dollies underneath. You had to do it all just right or that dolly could go flying out at you when they put the weight of the unit back down. I will not mention the terrible visions I tried to ignore each time my short girlfriend, Suzanne, kept planting her little body right in front of those things. Needless to say, I had to have a little glass of wine later to let go of all the tension but indeed, there were no accidents and the units are safely in storage.

We are now four weeks out of getting in the building and possibly opening. I love what Janis Luzzo said to me recently when I was checking measurements in the space. “In my perfect world, I envision…” she said before reminding me that her husband, Duane, was doing all the improvements in the new space himself. Her plan is to close on a Friday and open the following Tuesday on an upcoming holiday when most people leave town. This would, I agreed, be perfect timing for us to open by March 1. I made mental note to send down my husband to offer a helping hand. My husband loves to help build things.

With all of this going on, who had time to learn a computer bookkeeping system? (That goal last week was interrupted by a bout of the five-day flu.) My son said that a program already on my computer would do everything I need so I attempted to learn it last week. I got so far as to find it under “Finder” but when I tried to open the file, it said I needed to type in the serial number. I figured that would be normal, as I hadn’t used this program yet so off I went to locate the original box. This is why, by the way, it is very important to keep a home filing system so you know where to find things when you need them, even if it’s years later.

Two days later, I was still unable to get the program open so I called in the big gun: Devon, the 16-year-old, who promptly noticed that I was trying to open iWorks ’08 when I was clearly holding the box that said iWorks ’09. He took two seconds and two clicks to open the program.

Despite the frustrations, Nana and Company, the Children's Resale Boutique and Parent Resource Center that will be downtown around March 1, is still on schedule. More soon.