Sorry we've been MIA

You know, it seems like we do real good about blogging a lot, then we hit a dry spell and go for like a month with nothing. It's been one of those months. For those of you who keep emailing me to remind me to put up a new blog....sorry!!

So here's a recap of what's been going on for the past month.

1. Things are a madhouse at work. Which we love, we appreciate, and are so thankful for. We've been busy working on jillions of different things. Right now we have over 100 projects in the works, and we can't say enough how thankful we are for having the work to do!

2. Employee of the Year: Jessica Hobbs officially won the RHD Employee of the Year online contest, thanks to the help of lots of her friends and campaigning. No, she still hasn't gotten her award yet. We don't know what it is going to be. Hmm, that just gave me an idea for a facebook post.

3. Best of the Barns - We randomly came up with this idea at the end of November and had it created, progrmamed and launched for December 1. We thought it would be cool but had no idea it would be so popular. We had over 3,000 votes cast. Watch for the winners to be announced this week. We also got tons of great comments and feedback and I already wish it was NEXT December so we could put up the next "Best of the Barns"

4. The RHD Christmas Party - Woo hoo! As if we are looking for any other reason to have yet another office party, we had our 1st Annual RHD Christmas Party at Stacey Forgason's house including a gift exchange. The first company-wide memo said that the gift exchance was a "MINIMUM" of $25. Minimum...not maximum. Because that's how we roll. Just kidding, after that minor correction we clarified that the price limit was $25 MAX and that led to all kinds of fun gifts....including a couple wrapped in Victorias Secret gift bags. It was a girls only party, which turned out to be a pretty good thing. Topics ranged from pregnancy to boob jobs to just about anything you can imagine.

5. Offering 2 new service: Mobile web sites and livestock pedigree signs.....So far in the past month we've got about 100 different orders for pedigree signs. Who knew there was such a demand for this. This has led to Jessica (employee of the year) picking up a new skill of designing pedigree signs too. The signs are priced from $20 to $30 depending on how many you need. Visit http://www.stockshowsigns.com/ for more.

6. Big expansion of our invitations services. We've been doing invitations for I think 3 years now, but this year we really stepped it up and have been designing anywhere from 3-5 new invitations a week. http://www.ranchhouseinvitations.com/ is our new site dedicated to the invitation services.

What else? Here are just a few highlights of the month.....

• The near death of Liz's computer, our oldest one at the office, purchased in 2003. We're finally replacing it.
• Next computer ready to go..."Bertha" - operated by Stacey Shanks. We're going to give Liz's new one a test run and if everything goes smooth, Stacey's getting a new one too.
• Almost at 2500 fans on our facebook page
• Our fridge is stocked solid with holiday candy, which is a big factor in helping us keep up our momentum during this busy time of year....
• Specifically, our 3:00 p.m. refridgerator raids of the holiday candy are awesome.
• Found out our new landscaping sprinkler system is broken, which we found out thanks to our $200 water bill in one month.
• Getting out our 4th Brahman Review magazine, and busy planning for our upcoming Houston issue which we are equating to the club calf business's state fair issue.

So, that's a recap. I know everyone else is just as busy it seems like during this time of year. I heard a quote the other day which was something along the lines of "if you want something done right and done on time, ask a busy person to do it" --- very fitting for us these days it seems.