Awake/Asleep Raggedy Ann

I have a cute story about this awake/asleep Raggedy Ann, I made her in 1997 before Madame was born, she was a prototype and I never did make more than this one. Once Madame came along, it ended up being her doll, that's why her hands are a bit stained and need bleaching, adds to her charm though she is dated and well loved. Well, my husband lost his job suddenly and it forced us to decide we would be open for business as own own company. It was a very rough start, the supplier gave us a $200.00 credit account and I guess......if we needed a quick delivery to the house, that would cover it, but in the heating, service and sales, that's not much credit. Our family suv was a service truck and the broken down flat bed trailer that a friend gave us, transported anything too big or too heavy. At one point it became a time to try for more business recognition, hubby had gone through SCORE (service corps of retired executives) and they helped basically for the things I needed to do, I even wrote his business plan! Anyway, it's hard to get any borrowing power for a company that has no company, no track record, no reputation.

Well, hubby wanted a service truck, a forest green, 1991, Ford, Four by Four, F150. By this time it was 1999, Madame was born and about 9 months old, her brother started school and we were picking up customers. Off to the bank we trudged.

I must say, the VP of commercial lending really wasn't excited about talking to us, he mostly dealt with me, he told me it was hard to justify a loan without a w-2, it was hard without large supplier recommendations on record, and even harder coming from a homey type couple sitting in his office asking for funds based on the argument "we are a good risk." I sent husband down to the bank with papers several times after that, requests that sounded ridiculous to me but I did it. Finally it was at the end of the 7-9 days it took to get a answer and the VP called. He couldn't make the decision alone, he had a meeting scheduled with someone else and would let us know by lunch.

I had a feeling it was a meeting with the lady that wrote our mortgage and so... enough! It was, we got the loan and hurried to the bank, Madame in tow with Raggedy Ann as her company in those awful car seats that doubled as a baby carrier.

The VP shook my husbands hand and proceeded to talk to me the entire time, he was very stoic and stuffy, and I later learned it was the nicest he'd been to my husband, I wanted the check though. Once it was in my hot little hands we left as quick as we came. I think shock set in at this point, neither myself or my husband wanted to hold the check or put it away, we just looked at it driving to two miles down the road to pick up our truck!
Yada, yada, yada, sign here, sign there, need your proof of insurance, "where is Raggedy Ann!?!" "OMG...." Back to the bank.

I waited in the car while my husband went in, the lobby had closed by this time but a teller let him enter, he was directed to the VP's office and there she was, little Annie. She had dropped in the lobby and a teller gave her to the lender. My husband and he began a conversation about their wives and the crafts that are spread about in their prospective homes everyday. Neither one of them knew what to expect arriving home everyday but they agreed, they were used to it and things like Ann made life special.

All the tellers were tittering when my husband left, hands holding their mouths, the whole nine yards. C&G Design