More Chronicles of Narnia, I mean, Nana

Women, I think, probably experience a lot more stress when opening a business if they are in a more traditional role of wife, mother, housekeeper, etc., like me. I give a lot of credit to any mother who opens her own business because there are just so many demands on time by their family.

I don’t have any little ones anymore but it seems I spend half my life just trying to keep things ‘normal.’  Normal is my springboard for additional activities. If the house isn’t clean, for example, it must be cleaned first. Too often, dinner is over when I get to concentrate on my business plans.

So when I got up at 5 a.m. knowing the house was tidy and all was well, I expected to have a whole day to finish the legal paperwork for the new business--the new children’s store I’m opening downtown this spring. But, life happens. I hadn’t even got my teenage son out the door for school when he hollered for me from upstairs with that desperate sounding tone of ‘we’ve got trouble’ that all moms know.

I bolted upstairs to find a huge mass of feathers all over the bedroom floor and one very guilty Beagle sitting next to it. My husband has been on a business trip for the past few days and this was the third day in a row that our dog let us know she’s upset about it. Yesterday it was his pillow, and the day before that, it was a sheet. There was a 3-foot gap in the seam of our down comforter.

She’s now sulking in her crate.

So here I am just trying to get out the door to finish the tasks of legal paperwork that was started the day before but first I have to whip out my sewing machine--who cares that it has black thread--and sew back together a white comforter. Feathers were floating about my hands and head like dandelions and miraculously, I managed not to sew my fingers. I hauled it to the back yard to shake out all the loose down knowing everywhere I walked, I was leaving a trail of the tiniest down feathers everywhere. Then I ripped off all the bedding and re-made the bed. If anyone had been watching, I’m sure they would have thought I’d lost my mind. I was using the wand attachment to suck up the zillion little airborne whispies of down that had burst threw the air when I tried to vacuum up the mass pile off the carpet. I knew I had a lot to do so I didn’t waste a minute and I’m proud to say this very determined woman finished the task in less than 45 minutes.

Feeling like superwoman, I then returned to the task of being a businesswoman. Yesterday, I had driven to Fairfield and got the Fictitious Business Name filed without incident and with a helpful, smiling clerk on the other side of the window but had not nailed down the fact that I needed a copy of the lease/rental agreement to submit with the application for the Resellers Permit. This is the county government’s tax collection bureau and I was amazed they even needed that information but I didn’t have time to get on my political soapbox so just typed a simple one up for my new landlord to sign and now FAX in.

Today was also the day I finally did turn in my business license paperwork with the City of Dixon—another pleasant experience, and then off to the to give them the copy they need to publish that I, Debra Dingman, am in fact going to do business as “Nana” and pay the paper $35 to tell everyone that. I appreciate that the Tribune takes it from there and will run the official announcement in the classifieds once a week for four weeks then file the paperwork with the appropriate government office while forwarding me the completion copy.

Then I went to as it will be less than a half of block from my business and also because they offer a great business bank account with no fees and have always been very helpful and personable.

Unfortunately and no fault of Araceli Rocha, the requirements are to have two official forms to prove your business. Yes, I had the fictitious business name copy but the city license will be sent to me and the reseller’s permit wasn’t final without the lease so I had no other document to prove I am opening the business. So there you have it, a new stage of limbo. Until I get a copy of one of those other documents, I cannot continue the business of properly record keeping the expenses of opening one.

Next, I will attempt to order children’s white, plastic, durable hangers with silver hooks that swivel and un-pen my dog.

Editor's note: This column was submitted on Jan. 25.