Miscommunications

I've had the feeling recently that some people have misunderstood things I've said.  And if some people have misunderstood, it's quite possible that my fans too have misunderstood.  So I have a few things to say a bit more clearly.

First, in my post "A dryer ball is a dryer ball" I did mention that dryer balls can be unique!!  I think most of the ones you see on facebook, etsy, and hyena cart will work the same.  Of course be careful of weight!  Always always make sure you know the weight of what you're buying: dryer ball wise that is!  But there are things that make certain brands unique.  Some people carry dryer balls made out of different materials for people allergic to wool!  Different scents, different scenting methods, different dyes, different colors, different styles, etc etc!!  I saw one of etsy in the style of a giraffe!  So cute.  So anyway, while I think they will all mostly work the same way, the are differences in style.

Secondly, I said I don't like competition, and that's true.  Competition is what led a marine to tell my husband that he's a worthless piece of sh*t because he's in the army.  That's nice.  My husband didn't spend a year in Afghanistan protecting this country because he's a worthless piece of sh*t.  But the competition that marine felt with soldiers apparently led him to be unable to appreciate that.  And it's not like that is an isolated incident.  Anyone in the military knows that all the branches have a certain degree of competition.  Sadly it goes into the business world too.  I cannot tell you how many companies I have stopped buying from because of commercials that feel the need to compare.  Just last week there was a Huggies commercial where Huggies had to compare their diapers to Pampers.  I wish Huggies could just state what they liked about their product, and not what they hate about others.  Of course I don't buy Huggies, but it did irritate me!

So when I say I don't like competition, I'm referring to the comparisons, and put downs.  I'm referring to one retailer tattling on another retailer.  I'm referring to the constant oneupmanship that is annoying at best.  I've seen many many dryer balls companies promote their own dryer balls by putting down others.  I'm not talking about just 1 or 2 people and I'm not singling anyone out.  Just saying that I don't like it.  I know what healthy competition is.  I know it because I have become friends with one of my competitors and we enjoy healthy competition on a daily basis.  We keep each other in line :)  But we don't try to shoot each other in the foot either because it's not necessary.  Her dryer balls sell well as do mine and I don't think either of us are particularly threatened by the other... Now perhaps I didn't choose the best words to use when I first said this (I think underhanded and backstabbing might have the the exact words chosen) but eh, we all make mistakes.    It might have been harsh, but that was how I felt!  


And lastly - yes we are retailer only right now.  I might or may not open a small in stock store one day, but that is up in the air right now.  Our prices have not gone up and most retailers still offer the same price as before.  In fact, most of them offer free shipping so it seems like there is a better deal to be had.  Colors are still available, and if anyone is looking for a certain color feel free to ask!  I will track down who has it in stock for you.

I've said it before, but I will say it again (as many times as necessary!!) if you need anything, please send me an e-mail at erin@wooltopia.com.  I will always do my best to respond and help fix a problem, or find what you need.  Or you can send me a joke because I do enjoy laughing!

I have a confession

I don't like when people dislike me.  I'm one of "those" people.  Not to say that I'm one of those instantly likable people.  I'm like asparagus...I grow on you :)  I make friends best at places that the same people have to go to over a period of time...like soccer games, school, playgroups.  I don't make friends with the neighbors, or the people in line at Target.  They also don't hate me though, so I can't say that particularly bothers me.

Yesterday someone very close to me said that I am the person who thinks that everyone in the world should be able to get together in one room and get along.  And then last night I had a dream that I was in a room with Kim Jong Il, Osama Bin Ladin, and Mugabe - the guy from Africa.  We got along fine, but I think it helped that Kim Jong Il was the puppet from Team America: World Police.

When I know there is discord for misunderstood reasons it makes me want to fix it.  I get this insane urge to make it right.  I've learned in the past that isn't always possible.  I remember high school!!  Even rumors among best friends could tear people apart.

And the funny thing about apologies is that people rarely mean them.  So often I hear someone tell their kid to apologize.  Yeah, I've done it before, too.  But then you have to wonder what the point is.  How easy is it to say "sorry".  If there isn't any meaning behind it though it's...well meaningless.  Recently I've spent a lot of time trying to prompt my son to apologize without directly asking.  It's tough.  He's 4 and doesn't really get empathy.  I hope one day he understands was a true apology is and then learns how to appropriately use them.  I think it's funny when people demand an apology when someone does something wrong.  What does that show?  The person is trying to ease the tension by apologizing, but chances are they're not actually sorry.

So this has made me come to the realization that I could never be a celebrity.  I would absolutely lose my mind and within 6 months I would be shaving my head like Britney.  I would never apologize for a simple misunderstanding and the people would be angry...which would drive me crazy!!  And forget about politics.  I think hate is a requirement to be in the political world and I'm not aggressive enough to cut it.  I was the girl in basketball who felt bad for the other team and would start playing worse almost intentionally!

Thankfully my heart was never set on being famous :)

Truly shocked!

I never imaged that my little Spread the Love contest would turn into I Love WAHM Day.  I am truly amazed at the power of positivity and hope that other WAHMs appreciated all the love they got from THEIR customers.  It was more than uplifting to read all he complements for other companies.  So many of you really put time and energy into spreading the love and left so many meaningful comments.  I really hope a few WAHMs are headed to bed with happy feelings tonight!

All the positivity of yesterday left me to think of where else I could be a more positive person.  I started by spreading the love to my husband.  Just a quick text while he was at working telling him how much I appreciate him (his response?  "Who is this?".  That's my husband, geez!).  And then I decided to challenge myself.  What fun is a challenge to others, after all.  So here for the next week I will not speak a negative word.  Not when my husband does something annoying, not when my son spills his milk for the 500th time of the day, not when I'm mad at myself for wasting my own time!  No negativity on my blog, on my facebook, or my home away from home online.  7 days...no negativity.  I'm a sarcastic person so this should be interesting!

And now from some good ol' quotes from the best author ever, Dr. Seuss.

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."

"Today you are you, that is truer than true.  There is no one alike who is youer than you"

I know who I am and I am the youest me, and thankfully no one can change that.  Well, except for me of course!

And last quote there Serenity Prayer.  I want to start by saying that in a rough patch in my past I learned the Serenity Prayer and it brought me more hope than any prayer I've ever heard.  But just now for the first time I read the entire prayer and I don't even think there are words...

God, grant us the...

Serenity to accept things we cannot change,

Courage to change the things we can, and the

Wisdom to know the difference

Patience for the things that take time

Appreciation for all that we have, and

Tolerance for those with different struggles

Freedom to live beyond the limitations of our past ways, the

Ability to feel your love for us and our love for each other and the

Strength to get up and try again even when we feel it is hopeless.

I tried to change other people yesterday and therein lies my mistake.  I cannot change the negativity and hate in the world.  I will change myself and hope that I can lead by example.  I do appreciate every single person that participated in every single Spread the Love contest and I hope that maybe we accomplished something big today.

Signing off from my blog for a bit and reorganizing my facebook to make it what I want.  Changes to come, but only things I am courageous enough to change.

Time to share

A bit about me.  I'm a fairly private person, so this will really probably just be a little bit.  My real name is Erin but growing up I always wanted to go by my middle name, Lyn.  It has a lot of meaning to me because I was named after my grandmothers (MaryiLYN and CaroLYN).  I have one brother who I love, and he has a wonderful wife.  I could not ask for a better sister-in-law!!  My husband's name is Marshall and we met while working together at a movie theater when we were 17.  Our first son was born 4 years later - and he's a Jr.  Our second son was born almost 3 years after that, and now number 3 is due in April!

My husband is an Air Traffic Controller in the army; active duty.  He's been deployed to Afghanistan and has completed a tour in Korea.  He's coming up on his 4th anniversary in January, so as you can tell he's been away from us quite a bit in the past 4 years.  We're really really happy to have him home right now, and really excited to be stationed at a non-deployable unit for the time being.  That is all likely to change in November when he reenlists though!

I never thought I'd be a crunchy mom until my first son was born.  Things changed immediately though, and we haven't looked back.  We're a homeschooling family which is just a dream come true for me.  I love being home with my boys, even though it means sacrificing a lot.  I wouldn't trade it for the world!!

Wooltopia came about last March.  I love to knit and wanted to have more reason to knit.  I started doing testers for shorties for my friends and just really enjoyed it.  Wooltopia was started so that I could knit for more people.  But I wanted to do more than just knit.  Frankly, I'm a slow knitter and wanted something more to sell.  And that's when I came across dryer balls.  I had made some for me and for some friends and thought it was something I could do for more people.  They are 'green' and useful and really WORK.  I spent hours and days and weeks finding what I needed, testing methods, and coming out with a product I was happy to represent.  Since then I've spent 7 months perfecting that process and it's gone through a lot work.  The dryer balls we're sending out today are probably very different than the ones we sent out in April!!  The dryer balls really took off and I've lost sight of the fact that Wooltopia was started for knitting.  But I've regained my sight, and I'm getting back on track.  I love making dryer balls and knowing that I'm putting out something positive to the world, but I have a passion for knitting that I don't want to loose.


I want to end this with a comment on WAHMs.  This may seem off topic, but it's been weighing on my heart lately.  Last February I couldn't help but think about how awesome it would be to have my own business at home.  Be my own boss, sell my own product!!  And I won't lie, it can be fun.  But there is a lot more to it.  I spend a lot more time than I ever thought I would on this business.  If I were to calculate my hourly rate I'm sure it would fall between $2 and $2.25 an hour lol.  I feel confident in saying that most WAH mom's with their own businesses on etsy or hyena cart or something of that sort are not in it for the money.

So please PLEASE be respectful of the WAHMs behind these businesses.  No one is perfect and mistakes are made...Lord knows I've made my own mistakes.  But these are products that we put our heart and soul into.  Reading reviews or comments on other sites that just degrade your product are disheartening at best.  If you have a problem with a company or product, contact that company FIRST.  There is no need to go around spreading negativity and hate.  There is enough of that in this world.

I'll even start off the positivity.  Here's what I think of my "competition" (in quotes because as I've said before, I don't like competition and don't understand why we cannot all coexist without the hate).

Melinda at Buddha Bunz makes amazing customs.  I wish I had the needle felting talent that she does.  Seriously I can hardly draw, and she's putting these designs on dryer balls.  I've recently been blessed with the fact that I can call Melinda a friend.  She's supported me these past few weeks more than I ever thought someone in direct competition with me could.

Fluffalumps may be a newer company, but she's offering some pretty amazing colors.  Bright, vibrant and a great variety. Can't say I've talked with Victoria a lot, but we have exchanged an e-mail or two and she seems very friendly..

Bouncing Woolies is also fairly new but she's had some interesting ideas for car fresheners and what she calls FUNKtastic woolies.

Baby Bear Dryer balls are also pretty new, but I've had the opportunity to talk with this WAHM and she's really sweet.  She actually runs her own cloth diaper store (which sells my dryer balls; in colors only!) and has now started her own dryer ball company.  I could definitely be wrong, but this is the only store that I've noticed that uses ORGANIC wool on their dryer balls.


So there it is.  I'm trying to take the first step to spreading love instead of hate (how cliche! Oy!).  I see so much hate everyday, especially in the cloth diaper industry.  It's appalling to see so many women (and men!) with similar goals who have this cutthroat mentality.

Okay, off my soap box.  How about I challenge you to do something nice today.  Even more specific, go tell a WAHM how wonderful they and/or their product is WITHOUT (and this part is important) without insulting one of their competitors.  And yes, that includes saying "I got a a similar product from another company, and yours is just so much better!"
I'll even make the challenge a bit better, how about I give it 24 hours.  Post to my facebook page the complement you gave and a tag to the company.  I'll use random.org tomorrow to pick a winner.  The prize will be...a $10 GC to your choice of my retailers (or if you'd prefer, 2 dryer balls!).

You can complement whatever company you choose - even one of my competitors.  But if you say anything negative about another company in the post, you will be disqualified.

Competition

I guess this isn't so much of a response as something I've been wanting to say for awhile but haven't had the right opportunity.

A wool dryer ball is a wool dryer ball is a wool dryer ball.  Honestly, Wooltopia dryer balls are not magical and do not hold any wizard powers.  They will bounce around in your dryer and save you some drying time, soften your clothes, and cut down on static.  And guess what?  Most of the other dryer balls out there will do the same.  Are all dryer balls created equal?  Well no.  But for the most part, they're all going to achieve the same results.  I'd like to tell you that Wooltopia dryer balls are super special and will also fold your clothes, but sadly we haven't figured that feature out yet.

I've been told by a very reputable source that any dryer ball over 2.5 oz will have the same beneficial qualities.   So a 2.5 oz ball that is 3 inches around, or a 2.5 oz ball that is 12 inches around...or a 3 oz 3 inch ball or a 3 oz 12 inch ball...it doesn't matter!!

That's not to say that dryer balls cannot be unique.  There are different scents, colors, methods.  But all in all I believe you are buying the experience of the maker.  One might last longer than another.  But since most of them will last a year or 2, not much research has been done in that area.

So there it is, the truth about dryer balls!  Buy what you want, from who you want and know that wherever you buy them from you are going to get a product that works...because wool dryer balls really do work!!  But they work because they are wool dryer balls, and not because any brand is more magical than the other.