Busted!!!!!

We try to do set ups without the recipient seeing us because that is part of the surprise. To come out of the house and see your yard full of critters and a yard card is an awesome way to start your day. Unless of course you are embarrassed by it (another story another time).

Today I got to the house I was flocking and start setting up. I noticed that the curtains on the picture window were closed. This was not an easy set up due to all the snow and ice that we have had lately. I had to make about 5 trips to and from the car to get all the dinosaurs & the yard card set up. On my last trip I grabbed 3 dinos and the bag that we leave behind with a card for the recipient. As I was walking up the driveway I dropped on the dinos.......of course these were the 3D ones so it was loud. I grab the dino and put the last three in the yard. Then it is time to make my way to the front door to leave the bag on the handle. The front door has a huge window in it and as I walk up to the door I notice someone sitting on a couch looking at me. I quickly put the bag on the door handle and hightail it for the car (on an icy driveway). I made it back to the car without falling on my tush. I looked back at the door to see if the person was coming out to investigate and I saw that the curtain on the picture window was wide open. Uh oh busted!

I don't know for sure that I was caught but if not then I got real lucky.

Calendar? Who needs a calendar?

Sheri went to go do a set up tonight at a business in the next town over. While she was on her way there she looked at the paperwork for the set up and noticed that it said "Tuesday Feb 20". She had written down what she heard the customer say. But today is Monday February 18th so she either had the day or the date wrong. Time to call the customer to verify which it was. It turns it they were both right. The customer wanted it for Wednesday the 20th but had told her it would be Ok to do the set up on Tuesday night. LOL.

To top it off, she was pulled over by a policeman. No she didn't get a ticket. The police in that town will pull you over for anything just to check you out. I used to work in that town and my employer had to file a complaint with the police department for harassment of the employees. Someone from my office was being pulled over every single week but no tickets were ever issued. Really strange. Anyway back to Sheri and her run in with the law. The officer wrote her a warning because the front license plate was missing.....it fell off when I tried to fit into a parking space that had a ton of snow where my bumper needed to be. The plate is in the trunk.......guess I need to reattach that now. ;)

Wisconsintites are so helpful.

First a little bit of background. For those that don't live in our area we got hit with 12-18 inches of snow on Wednesday. Schools, businesses, churches and even government offices were closed. There were people getting stuck in ditches and on the side of the road all over the area.

Now fast forward to Thursday evening. We had a set up to do. Sheri went on this one in our car. She made sure to take a shovel in case she needed to dig out an area for the message board. She gets to the house and parks as close to the side of the road as possible. To get the sign out of the car she needed to remove the shovel so she props it up against the car.

As she was setting everything up, a few cars drove past really slowly. Then as she was getting some more critters out of the trunk a car pulls up and the driver rolls his window down. He then asks her if she needs any help. Obviously he thought she was stuck and not out there putting up a birthday display.

Press Release

Local Lawn Greeting Company joins International Non-Profit Trade Association

Muskego, WI – February 4, 2008 – Sheri Haupenthal, owner of Special-Delivery 4 U LLC in Muskego, WI is proud to announce its membership in the newly formed International Lawn Greetings Association, Inc - the only trade association for the Lawn Greetings Industry.

Special-Delivery 4 U LLC has been in business since January 2005. Haupenthal and her husband Tom purchased the business from the original owners on May 1st 2007. Since that time they have revamped the website, introduced new signs, expanded the delivery area and have become the only lawn greeting company in the Milwaukee area to offer Lawn Letters.

Beginning as an online forum group, founded by Scottie Claiborne (owner of Flamingoed.com, a lawn greeting directory), several industry business owners congregated to "talk shop" about their experiences with owning such a business. They often discussed topics such as general small / home business concepts, where to purchase materials, how to construct their inventory, customer relations, marketing for the industry, and personal chit-chat.

“This formation illustrates that the Lawn Greetings Industry has turned more from being a hobby to that of a recognizable and profitable industry and needs to standardize.” Mike Smeck comments, who co-owns Yard Card Surprise based out of Lorain County, Ohio, and who is the Vice President of the ILGA.

The mission of the association is to support the development of the commercial lawn greetings industry through a variety of means, including market development, voluntary adherence to a Code of Ethics, research, and to promote awareness of and build community with the lawn greetings industry worldwide through a network of reputable lawn greetings companies.

“We are proud to have Special-Delivery 4 U join our membership. We look forward to helping them grow their business by making many resources available to them,” ILGA President Michelle Reed states, adding “in turn, helping them provide better service to their customers.”

Currently, the ILGA has reached its goal by being the leading resource of the lawn greetings industry and consists of over 1000 subscribed members from across the US, Canada, Mexico, the UK, Australia, England, and New Zealand. Many “newbies” state that the business owner’s forum is a wonderful resource and that the individual posts have helped them start their own lawn greetings business. Members of the business owner’s forum have been known to start many industry trends, and the talent among the group is often shared with one another in many forms.

For more information on Special-Delivery 4 U LLC, visit their website at
www.Special-Delivery4U.com or call them at 414-651-0366. To learn more about the
International Lawn Greetings Association, Inc., visit their website at www.Lawn-Greetings.org.

Glossary of terms we use.

I thought it would be helpful to include a picture glossary of the terms that we use. You know just in case someone actually reads this sometime. ;)

Yard Card: A large sign with a message.












Message Board: A sign that can have a customized saying put on it.









Critter: The smaller items that accompany a Yard Card or Message Board. These are available in 2D (top picture) & 3D(bottom picture). Note: these are not always animals. Can include balloons, balls, stars and various other items.

Stork: An announcement for a birth or a baby shower.











Keepsake Star: A custom hand made star on the Stork with the vital statistics of the baby (pictured above).

Sibling Star: A custom hand made star for big brother or sister.












Lawn Letters: Individual letters that spell out a saying.