Scent List

http://www.creativescentsations.net/store/aGo.asp?aff=497

While we were waiting for our food, we got to watch about 4 or 5 hummingbirds out the big windows in the restaurant. Mike got a video and picture of the one that was brave enough to come back after he walked out the door.

Here is a little video for you too

Hummingbird at Mather House

Then after eating we took a trip down to Cedar Falls and survived it LOL! Here is a picture of the reward we got at the end of the trip.

When you get to the falls, you see this wonderful waterfall, but you are surrounded by mountains. This was the view directly above my head and beside the falls:

As you can see, it was absolute beautiful. The trail down there was about a mile and a half. It was strenuous, mountain terrain. I don’t think I have ever sweat so much in my entire life or did that much walking and exercise! HA! Three miles of mountains, rocks, and critters…I got a picture of a neat little dragonfly that had landed on a leaf on the trail. We also saw a tarantula on the way back up, but I didn’t get a chance to get a picture since I had mike scare it back into its little crevice.

Look for the black wings on the leaf. It was really unique looking, and I wish the pic would have came out better.

The path down to the falls was so amazing. Here are a few pictures of the view on the way down….mostly river views

The next picture is a funny story LOL. I am severely out of shape, and we wished we would have left the stroller back at the car. We wanted Daniel to have a secure spot if we took a break, so we went ahead and took the darn thing. I tried to carry the stroller most of the way, but Mike had to carry it a few times for me so I didn’t wipe out on the big rocks on the way down. So the next picture is where we crossed over another little falls with Mike carrying Daniel and the stroller LOL. He is so strong.

I love this pictures coming up…this was taken at the bend right before we got to the falls:

If you are visiting the area around the Petit Jean Mountain, you should really go and see this beautiful place.

Note:  Please do not use these images without my written permission.

This annual antique car show is co-hosted by the Mid-American Old Time Automobile Association and the Museum of Automobiles on Petit Jean Mountain. Classic and vintage vehicles from all over the region will be on display. Call the museum at (501) 727-5427 for more information.
Admission: Free

Contact: (501) 727-5427, petitjean@arkansas.com
www.petitjeanstatepark.com

Let’s learn more about her and her businesses!

Where are you from?

I was born in NJ (lived in Montclair, Verona, Cedar Grove…then in Barnegat, Freehold…and when married in Red Bank…WHEW!).  We moved to Virginia 16 years ago to get away from the rat race.  We now live in the middle of nowhere..in Virginia.

Favorite things to do on your time off?

Scrapbooking and crafts!!!  I enjoy spending time with family.  I enjoy the outdoors - hiking, biking, canoeing, swimming.

What companies do you rep for? (please include your link)

Close To My Heart    www.shopwithrobin.myctmh.com (my main squeeze!)

Wrap it Right    www.wrapitright.com/store/affiliate.asp?aff=900

Stuff A Pal     www.stuffedpals.com

Home and Garden Party    www.shoppingwithrobin.com

How long have you been in direct sales?

about 2 1/2 yrs.

Have you won any awards for being in direct sales?  If so, can you share with us?

Well, this Vendor Spotlight (LOL).

I have gotten certificates for achievement.  I am presently working on a degree program given by Close To My Heart for business building and technique.

What is your most gratifying moment of being a WAHM?

Watching my children grow up..they took their first steps with me there…plus we homeschool, so watching them read for the first time, and moving up the ladder there.  Also being independent and able to do direct sales from home.  We sacrificed a LOT for me to stay home - but it was worth the loss of salary to be able to be here for my children and home.

Is there anything else you would like to share with us?

I have been honored and grateful to find such wonderful WAHM’s out there!  I have learned from you, and I have had the joy of meeting some of the most amazing women!  I am honored to have been chosen for this Vendor Spotlight!  I hope my journey continues in a positive direction and look forward to meeting more of your in the future!

List your specials here:

For Close to My Heart:  - buy one card kit, get one 20% off.  Buy one scrapbook kit, get one 20% off.  Buy one stamp set, get one 20% off.  Don’t forget we have our already discounted stamp of the month.  And for April (starting on the 15th) we have our Make Magic scrapbook kit!!  A kit that you can make 2 scrapbook pages EASILY a month for a year - you get 24 level 1 sheets, 24 feet of ribbon, brads, memory protectors and instructions. EXCELLENT for beginners or even those who have little time.

For Wrap it Right - our products are excellent for business builders!!  Take 10% off any order.  But you must email me.

For Stuff A Pal - 15% off all orders in April!  Check out our little pals stuffed with fluff and make a friend for life!  Top quality…excellent company!

For Home and Garden Party - 15% off all orders in April!! Email me for those.  And check out the Treasure Chest of savings online!!

You can order online at any time, but email me if you want the specials at rbiz@shoppingwithrobin.com

Thank you!!

1. What do you think your responsibility as a customer is the first time you speak with your consultant offering the products you want and/or need?
2. Now, you are considering joining the company in which you enjoy the products so much that you would like a little extra income. Do you join with the consultant that first interested you in her product or wait for the best deal on joining forgetting all loyalty to that consultant?
3. Would you consider yourself a loyal customer (buying from only the consultant that first introduced you to their products)?
4. In a saturated market, how do you pick who you are going to buy from?

I would love to know the answers to these questions. We are wasting time and money on people who really do not appreciate the service that we are providing to our customers.

You can post anonymously by leaving a comment…please let me know what you are thinking….

• May Host Flyer
• May/June Flyer
• Tupper Living Catalog
• Tupperware Fundraising Catalog 2008 — pages 1-7
• Tupperware Fundraising Catalog 2008 — pages 8-15

I would love to be your Tupperware consultant! Be sure and visit my site at http://my.tupperware.com/amyleigh676

You can book an online party or start your business with me today! An online party takes less than 10 minutes to set up, and you reap all the rewards of a traditional party. Online hostesses and their guests also have an opportunity to purchase exclusive items that are only available to the hostess and her attendees.

• Star Program
• Compensation Chart
• Car Program
• Tupperware Kits
• You Hold The Answer Questionnaire
• Award for New Consultants — April

The Star Program tracks your progress for your first thirty days in Tupperware, and it also gives you a guide to shoot by.

The Compensation Chart shows the different levels and earnings that you can achieve with Tupperware.

The “You Hold The Answer Questionnaire” is a few questions to ask yourself if you are looking to start a new career with Tupperware. Anyone who fills out this questionnaire and sends it back to me will receive a FREE gift.

Remember to ask me how you can earn your kit, so we can get your Grand Opening booked today!

Tupperware rewards their consultants for bringing new people into the business and for achieving sales for the business. As a consultant with Tupperware, you look forward to learning what the new rewards will be for the month, so let me show you some of the rewards that I can earn this month.

• May New Consultant Offer
• May Recruiting

Tornado and Flood Relief in Sharp County, Arkansas

In the past three months, my community has been hit very hard by natural disasters. In February, EF3 and EF4 tornadoes ripped through this area like someone on a rampage. It wiped out most of our commercial district in Highland, Arkansas. In March, the Spring River flooded out of its banks about 400 yards to put our Loberg Park in Hardy, Arkansas and many houses and businesses nearly under water. The river crested at 22 ft. on the flood stage scale, and Hardy was just getting cleaned up from the this flood when another one hit on April 10th.

The devastation in this community has driven me to do something better for my community, and I need you help!

?

After two months of not knowing, Highland finally has figures from the federal government for estimated damage to city property caused by the Feb. 5 tornado.

At the April 8 city council meeting, Mayor Jerome Norwood said the city has $415,065.98 in damages. The estimated replacement cost for the fire station is $224,416. Of that figure, the city’s insurance will pay for $35,000 leaving the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management to pay for $189,416. In addition, the contents of the fire station to be replaced is valued at $81,512.90. The remainder of the figure is for labor.

The figures were arrived at by using a standard formula for disaster assistance, Norwood said. FEMA pays 75 percent, the state pays 12.5 percent and the city pays 12.5 percent; however, labor can be deducted from the city’s portion.

The council unanimously agreed to waive the $500 spending limit of the mayor in order to get the fire department settled and back on its feet as soon as possible. The department has been continuing to respond to calls by utilizing the help of others. Trucks and equipment have been donated or loaned to the department since the tornado by many other departments across the region and the state. Norwood announced that the blue firetruck is back in service.

Norwood said with the $130,000 in grants the city has applied for on behalf of the fire department, an engineer and an architect are required.

Norwood spoke to an engineer from Jonesboro who actually filed one of the grants for him, he said. The engineer has agreed to work for the city, if it receives the grants, for 10 percent of the total cost.

A local architect also submitted a bid for the work for the city. The base price was $22,000 with additional costs.

The council voted to move forward with the engineer and let him take the lead on the project if the city is approved.

In other business, the council approved an ordinance that calls for the mayor or his representative to order a resident or property owner to take care of unsightly or unsanitary conditions on their property.

The ordinance replaces another ordinance that has been on the books since 2001. The new ordinance has updated information from the state, Norwood said.

Alderman Larry Allen said the council doesn’t need to give the mayor permission to make the call. Instead, the code enforcement officer should be given the permission. Alderman Woody Pardue said it doesn’t matter whether it is in the ordinance or not. The mayor has the authority over the code enforcement officer.

In addition, in some instances the situation may not be black and white, Allen said. Many of the situations will require a judgement call from the officer. Allen said because of that reason, he would like to give residents an opportunity to appeal. The ordinance was changed to include an appeal period of 30 days.

The ordinance passed 7-1 with an emergency clause. Alderman Mary Jo Clark voted against all three readings of the ordinance.

In addition, the council also approved an ordinance that authorizes the city to raze or remove unsafe buildings in the city.

Allen said he would like for a professional to verify that a building is unsafe before it is destroyed.

Alderman David Harris said the ordinance is needed now because of existing trash and portions of buildings left standing from the tornado.

He said he and Norwood have both heard of property owners who have no plans to clean up their property.

The ordinance was approved unanimously. The ordinances requires the council to act on the matter, not just the mayor.

The council unanimously voted to table an ordinance that would allow the city to collect franchise fees from Charter Communications.

The ordinance would be non-exclusive meaning another provider could come into town and offer cable service to city residents. Charter would pay five percent in franchise fees to the city on a quarterly basis. The agreement would expire Feb. 1, 2013

Resident and business owner Max Hill said by approving the fee, the added cost will be passed on to customers including those who don’t have much money to begin with. Alderman Jack Kimbrell suggested the city look at a lower fee such as three percent.

Allen suggested the city go online and look at the agreement the company has with West Plains, Mo. He said the more lengthy ordinance is more specific than the one presented to the council. In addition, he said the city should make sure the company abides by all city ordinances.

Allen asked that the ordinance be tabled in order for the council to have an opportunity to research the possibility more thoroughly and look at the West Plains ordinance.

Alderman Shawn Reed said a similar agreement was brought up years ago. At that time, the council rejected the agreement. Norwood said the rejection was because the agreement was exclusive.

Recorder/treasurer Mary Ruth Wiles said the sales tax check the city receives from the state this month will reflect the loss of sales tax caused by the tornado. Those findings will be presented to the council at the May 13 meeting.

Last week’s flooding caused another $70,000 to $100,000 worth of damage to city property in hard hit Hardy.

“It’s just tore up so much,” Mayor Nina Thornton said.

The city had roughly $2 million in damage from the March flood. With the damage from this flood, the estimate has increased by $70,000 to $100,000.

Although the Hardy area didn’t see as much debris in the flood this time, there was additional damage to property

The walls to the bathrooms in Loberg Park were busted out, the large playground equipment at the park also received additional damage, more asphalt was washed away from Loberg Drive and the $9,000 worth of gravel the city used to temporarily fix areas where pavement had washed away on Wilburn Brothers Boulevard and Loberg Drive was also washed away in the flood.

Thornton said she estimates it will cost the city $15,000 to repair the bathrooms at Loberg Park, $9,000 to replace the gravel that was washed away and another $30,000 to repair the roads in addition to the cost of other repairs needed throughout the city.

Of the city’s seven sewer pump stations, three require repair from the severe flooding. The motors became too wet. The city is now looking at ways to reduce the damage caused by flooding. So far, it is estimated to cost $50,000 per pump station.

Thornton said she attributes the damage from the recent flood to the heavy rains further north.

“It came up faster and was swifter this time,” she said. “It didn’t get quite as high here but it got higher elsewhere. We counted nine refrigerators/freezers that came down the river.”

In addition, two small storage buildings in town were also swept away in the flood, she said. Pillars that were erected to replace those washed away in the March flood were washed away again at some homes. The railroad tracks in town were also damaged again by the flooding.

Hydrologist Steve Bays with the National Weather Service in Little Rock notified the mayor of the anticipated flood Wednesday morning.

From 7 a.m. Thursday morning to 7 a.m. Friday morning Hardy received 1.08 inches of rain; however, areas upstream saw much more. Mammoth Spring received 3.20 inches during the same period, according to the National Weather Service. All of the rain from the northern tributaries made its way into both the Spring and South Fork rivers causing widespread flooding … again.

The weather service thought the river would crest around 25 feet, exceeding the crest during the March flood by more than two- and one-half feet. Luckily that never happened. The river crested at 20.81 feet around 4 p.m. April 10, according to the NWS.

At 4 a.m. Thursday the river at Hardy was at five feet; however, with heavy rain up north, the river rose five feet, to 10.2 feet, by 6 a.m. and exceeded the flood stage. Evacuations began an hour later. At 7:45 a.m., the river had reached 12.26 feet, Thornton said.

By 10 a.m. the city was notifying all properties effected in the 1982 flood of the situation in case the river exceeded its estimations.

“They listen. When the cop car pulls up or the phone rings and they find out it’s City Hall, they pack a suitcase and take off,” she said.

About a dozen homes received water damage in the recent flood. In the March flood 112 campers and other structures were damaged.

River Bend Park Manager Clifton Johnson said park occupants began packing up and leaving Wednesday night. Luckily, there were few occupants due to the sheer number of floods the area has suffered in recent weeks.

Riverbend, which lies right on the banks of the Spring River on Bluffs Road just outside the city limits, suffered severe damage in the March flood. In fact, the power hasn’t been restored since last month’s flood because many of the electrical meters in the park were washed downstream with other debris, Johnson said. In this flood the guard shack was swept away.

Hardy wasn’t the only location in Sharp County that was hit hard again by flooding. In fact, the entire county was damaged in the flood, according to Judge Larry Brown.

“We’ve got a tremendous amount of damage,” Brown said. “I think it did more damage this time.”

The recent heavy rain storms have caused some roads to wash out three times now, he said. With each flood, more debris is washed into road culverts. With so much rain in such a short period of time, the culverts weren’t cleaned out causing the flood water to wash over the roads even more than usual during last week’s flood.

Because of the damage, several roads have been temporarily closed. Closing the roads will give the roads a chance to dry out and for crews to make the necessary repairs. The closed roads are Shaw’s Cemetery Road in the southwest part of the county, Banks Road in the north, Corinth Road near Ash Flat and Puckett Road in the southeast.

“It’s bad all over the county,” Brown said. “It’s not just one area. We’ve had big rains everywhere. It’s going to take a while to get over.”

Cherokee Village fared better in this flood than the March flood, Mayor Lloyd Hefley said.

“We’ve just got a lot of debris, and we’re cleaning up,” he said.

In addition to the new debris, a new problem was discovered on the bridge at the North Golf Course. Hefley said there is now a small split in the bridge that must be addressed. The bridge, which has remained closed since the March flood, is still closed and will be for some time.

Judge Brown didn’t issue another declaration specifying the county as a disaster area after last week’s flood. The old declaration issued March 19 still stands because it is a continuing problem.

Brown said he is unsure how much money the county will receive from governmental sources for damage sustained in the floods; however, he said the county does qualify for federal relief just from the damage caused by the March flood.

Federal pays 75 percent of the cost of replacement while the state pays 12.5 percent. The county is responsible for the remaining 12.5 percent. Luckily, labor can be included in the match.

“It’s going to be a tremendous cost,” he said.

FEMA was scheduled to have a disaster recovery center set up in the former Arkansas Power and Light Building in Hardy from Tuesday through Friday in order for residents to register for assistance, Thornton said. They may also register by phone.

Thornton said she anticipates more floods this year.

“There is a good possibility this will happen again. Spring isn’t over yet,” she said.