Anyone know how to successfully groom a maine coon cat?

without sedating her? I have a beautiful maine coon cat aptly names "sasquatch" by my husband. she's really more like a dog than a cat. She loves to cuddle, thinks that she should be eating whatever i'm eating, and always wants to go outside. the only problem is that she gets these big clumps near her bum and i have a really hard time combing them and i hate to cut them out. she fights me tooth nail, literally, and i feel so bad about having to do it. I do have some kitty sedative but i hate having to drug her up simply to groom her. i'm anyone knows of a good way to brush her with all having to fight her i would greatly appreciate it!

Dear so and so... week 1

I saw this on whimical creations blog and I think that is it just fantastic so I am going to give it a try.

So here goes Dear so and so week 1!

Dear Mother Nature,
I'm ready for the snow be done with. Please send me some sunshine.
Thanks, Lauren

Dear Dr. Valente (one of the Dr.'s at work),
Please stop hovering over the appointment book. you do not have magical powers that will make patients appear in your column when you stare at the book!
Leave me alone, Lauren

Dear mom,
I had a great weekend last week. I love you and miss you!
Love lauren

Dear "the husband"
I bought laundry baskets for a reason. please use them for their intended purpose, not to play jail with the cat.
love "the wife"

Dear "the dog",
i love you but do not love it when you swing your giant hammer paw at me when I come in the door.
love, mommy.

Well that was fun! I think i'm good for the week. I could keep going but I think that's enough for a trial run.

If you would like to try this feel free to grab the widget for you blog here

I need your customer service stories!

As we all know (or at least I hope we do) customer service is probably the second most important part of a business, with the first being a quality product.

This week I’m working on another article about the importance of customer service. I’m looking for your stories about an awesome or terrible customer service. It doesn’t have to be about an online experience, but any experience from anywhere.

If it was a great experience, what made it so exceptional?

If it was terrible, why was it so bad, and what could that person or business have done to make the situation amenable?

Please post your stories in the comments section and I will be going through them to post in my article.

Thanks everyone! I look forward to reading your stories!

Featured seller - KIMMSMITH

A few weeks ago while browsing in the forums (as usual) I cam across KIMMSMITH. What caught me was the beautiful avatar she had and I just HAD to click on it to see what was in her shop. And all I can say is "WOW". She has such a beeutiful array of bead packed jewelry items (Im still trying to figure out how she manages to put so many beads in such a small space) at fantastic prices. I'm looking forward to my next formal dance just so that I can buy something from her.

After spending lots of time in her shop I decided to check in with her to see what is behind the shop and meet the maker.

1) You're designs are so colorful and packed with beads. Where does your inspirations for your designs come from?
My inspiration for colours can come from the most bizzarre things such as a colour combinations on a shower gel bottle, wallpaper, fabric, a pattern on a dress or a gift box. My main inspiration though is my garden and childhood memories of the hours I spent in my grandparents award winning garden full of flowers and orchards.

2) Tell us about how you started to get into making jewelry and how you got on etsy.
My sister used to make jewelry and I always admired her, she tried to show me how it was done one day and it just wasn't for me even though I had always loved beads since childhood! I was made redundant a few months later and had lots of spare time on my hands and was very bored so I decided to have a play but kind of doing it my way, from that day on I became addicted! I had already bought from etsy on a few occassions but a fellow etsian (janetlily) introduced me to the site as a seller, from that day I haven't looked back!

3) What do you like to do in your free time when you're not creating?
I have 2 boys aged 8 and 17 and a gorgeous hubby who runs my youngest son's football team so I watch them play at weekends, I read, love cooking, go for an inspiring walk and love to lunch with my best friend. I also keep Ian's roofing business up to date. Oh and searching for even more beads too!

4) What do you find are successful ways to promote (or unsuccessful ways) your business?
I find my facebook fanpage a great way
to promote my designs, I also Twitter and have found being in the etsy forums is a good way to get noticed and make some wonderful friends too! I couldn't keep up with my blog but many people find this a very successful way to promote.

5) Do you have any advice for those who are new to etsy or are thinking about opening a shop?
My advice for anyone thinking of opening a shop would be to take it slowly. Join the forums and ask for advice, until I went into the forums I didn't realise that I could renew my items! Practice your photography skills until you are happy with your pictures. Use all 14 of your tags and describe your item well. Don't give up, it takes time to build up your shop and get noticed but Etsy is a fabby place to be, everyone is friendly and helpful. Go for it!

6)Anything else about yourself that you would like to share with us?
I dream beads, I'm a total chocoholic, If i'm not singing I talk to myself whilst beading and lastly I have the most supportive family and friends who I am most grateful to!