A Christmas Story From Le Tron ~ "Toys With A Twist!" Part 1

Welcome Dear Reader to the Wonderful World of Le Tron

and

To our 2^nd favorite time of the year!

The Scary Christmas SEASON!

Over the next four weeks we hope to thrill you, chill you

and twist your notions of the "joys" of the holiday season with…

A Christmas Story from Le Tron ~ “Toys With a Twist!”

“All right, toute le monde,” shouted Madame Le Tron, looking festive in her Santa hat. “Si’l vous plait, please, could we all settle down now?”

There was a loud tapping on the studio workbench that rattled the punchbowl, the plates of cookies, and the oilcans.

Every head turned at the sound of the ruckus.

“Merci, mon petite phantom, and don’t you look all ‘decked out’ for the holiday season, Alice? I love your hat,” said Madame adoringly, as she signaled to Ghoulish Gordon to remove the 300-year-old, three-year-old ghost from the makeshift refreshment table.

The entire room erupted with laughter, as Ghoulish appeared to be chasing a Santa hat, continually beyond his grasp, as it floated in mid-air, throughout the room.

“All right… All! All right!

People…robots…ghosts…and the like… let us give… Madame Le tron… our attention, shall we?” intoned ol’ Joe in his familiar, mechanical voice that was always such a comfort to all.

 “Merci, dear friend,” said Madame Le Tron.  “Bien, well then, here we are at the start of another holiday season!  Giselle, I want to thank you so much for being here tonight. I know how difficult it is for you to get away during college mid-terms.”

“No worries, Madame,” Giselle replied with a bit of a hitch in her voice. “There is no place I would rather be tonight than here, with my family.”

Romantic Dan started to sigh.

“No tears now, Dan.  You’ll rust. You need to wait until after…,” whispered Giselle to the robot by her side.

The Recyle-tron nodded his box-like head.

Madame Le Tron continued her speech. “Things are a bit different this year with Giselle away at university.”

“I’ll be home for winter break by the 12^th,” offered up Giselle, brushing back a lock of golden hair as it fell over one of her eyes.

“Qui, c’est vrai, Mon Cheri.  That is grand for in-the-shop sales, but tonight we are planning for Cyber-Monday sales. Now before we begin….”

And, that’s when “IT” began, slowly at first, from the back of the shop, and then a bit louder, and then louder still -- till the whole room was awash in buzzers, bells, and a dazzling array of lights.

Giselle leaned over to the Recycle-tron by her side.  “I love this part!” she cried aloud. “I think I like it even better than Christmas!”

Romantic Dan “buzzed” in agreement, as the word “TRADITION” printed across the computer screen embedded in his robotic chest.

Managing Mike wheeled down the center isle, waving his wrench-like arms through the air, and the room began to settle down.

When he arrived at the front, Madame Le Tron had already taken her seat in the overstuffed arm chair that ol’ Joe had brought in. A large leather-covered storybook rested upon her knee, and she began to read…

“Once upon a time.…”

Tune in next Friday at 3pm Central time for Part II of -

A Christmas Story from Le Tron ~ “Toys With a Twist!”

 

In the meantime, enjoy a little on-line Holiday Shopping with our special offer below!

 A "20% Off" coupon code for our ETSY SHOP good now through CYBER MONDAY!

madamescyberdaygift is the code for our shop  www.etsy.com/shop/letron

Le Tron - "Toys with a Twist!"

Is a family venture in which we rescue recyclable toys, and through a variety of artistic media, we create collectible, mountable pieces of art. Our work focuses on contemporary themes that appeal to the "young and young at heart." 

OUR LONG-RANGE PLAN: 

BECOME A CHILDREN'S TV SHOW  that teaches sound moral values WITH A PRODUCT SPIN-OFF LINE that will remind all of us of the same. 

PLEASE! Use this blog to SHARE OUR STORIES WITH YOUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN! We know they will love the simple adventures, the relatable characters and you will love the morals that are found there in.

Creativity beyond the craft…

Things to do!

“Vacation -- Bah-Humbug! Maybe ‘E-mail Bankruptcy’* is the answer,” sighed a frazzled Madame Le Tron, as she scrolled through her e-mail logjam, a result of her two-week vacation.

“C’est IMPOSSIBLE!” exclaimed Madame aloud.

“What’s impossible?” asked Giselle, as she entered the tiny office, hoping to use the computer to take her placement test for university.

“Over 500 e-mails, a things-to-do-list still to be created, one week to fill our biggest order of the year, and a blog to write, right now. Add to that unpacking, grocery shopping, work assignments, and a potential of two to three new shows to prep for, your going off to college, orientation for the same, and our most important recycle-tron recovering from knee surgery….”

“Actually, he had an axle replacement,” Giselle whispered under her breath.

“Pardon moi?” said Madame Le Tron, rubbing her eyes behind her big black glasses.

“Is the computer free?” asked Giselle.

“Ah, Mon Cherie, could you check back in an hour?”

“Qui, Madame….Madame, perhaps you should consider the use of creativity beyond your craft.  You are the most creative person I know.”

“Qui, qui, qui Giselle, merci,” Madame replied dismissively, waving a black-gloved hand her way.

“No, seriously, look at all you have done.  You have created Le Tron ~ “Toys with a Twist!” from nothing.  The concept, the storyline, even us -- We were created by you!  The re-cyletrons were your creations, even Managing Mike, the recycle-tron with the axle/knee re-placement was created by you. Honestly, Madame, the “knee injury” was your own creation. So use a little of that creativity of yours to figure out what you need to get done and do it!  Why not take a moment to scroll through your e-mail, see what jumps out at you, and save it.  Then go ahead and commit ‘E-mail Bankruptcy’ with what is left!”

“An excellent idea, Giselle! Here, the computer is all yours!” beamed Madame Le Tron, rising from her desk.

‘He-he-he, creativity beyond the craft! Go “Team Giselle!’ thought Giselle, delighted as she sat down to the computer screen.

“By the by,” inquired Madame, poking her head back into the room. “How did you get so smart?”

“Soon-to-be college freshman, majoring in phycology,” giggled Giselle.

“But, of course,” winked Madame Le Tron.

Ah, yes, all is well in the Wonderful World of Le Tron!

See you again, next Friday at 3 pm Central!

Au revoir,

Madame Le Tron

*E-mail Bankruptcy was an article found on www.inc.com , which we posted on our blog last week while on vacation. The thought was delightful and certainly worth considering but, had we done it, we would have missed what we think is a great to- do- list.  Enjoy!  These ladies seem to have it “Going-on”!  http://www.handmadehorizons.com

Check out their site and their fabulous 50% off sale!

THIRTY IN THIRTY 

1. Outline a blog post

2. Write up your blog post and hit "publish" 

3. Spend 30 minutes promoting your blog post on social media 

3. Make a list of 10 blogs that write about type of products you sell 

4. Contact 1 blogger from your list - tell them why you think their readers would be interested in your products, and invite them to write about your range (rinse and repeat) 

5. Create a Facebook ad for your business 

6. Read-up on trends for Winter / Christmas 

7. Sign-up for a free Mail Chimp account so you can start to build an email list for your shop

8. Create an email sign-up box for your website 

9. Write your email welcome text 

10. Send a thank you card to a loyal customer who has bought from you in the past 

11. Thank the last 5 people who have followed you on Twitter / Facebook and ask them to tell you something interesting about themselves

12. Check your Google Analytics and write a list of 3 actions you need to take as a result of what you learn from your stats

13. Re-write your About Page to give it a bit more oomph and sizzle (did you know About pages are often the most visited on websites, after the home page?) 

14. List 5 new products on your website

15. Fill out our Marketing Health Check 

16. Take a better photograph of a product you already have for sale, and add it to your website

17. Re-write the product descriptions for your 3 best-selling products to include search-engine friendly keywords 

18. Launch a summer sale!

19. Write a press release 

20. Send a press release to a magazine you've always wanted to be featured in

20. Contact three customers and ask them for a testimonial for your website 

21. Create a fun video for your About Page using Powtoon 

22. Outline a newsletter for your subscribers, letting them know what you've been working on

23. Write and publisher a newsletter for your subscribers 

24. Read a chapter of a business book (need recommendations? Ask us!) 

25. Re-visit your goals for 2013 and write down anything you've not yet done 

26. Jot down ideas for your Christmas product range

27. Get a friend to go through your website and give you some feedback

28. Add an FAQ to your website with the most common questions you receive 

29. Register your domain name so you can set up a professional email address

30. Write a list of the things you've achieved this year, and give yourself a pat on the back! 

Bon Chance!  As always we would love to have “YOU” post your thoughts below!  Let’s get a conversation started…

http://www.handmadehorizons.com

Enjoy...

We are on Vacation…

See you next 

on 

Friday, July 19, 2013! 

By the by, we Love the e-news letter this article was in.

We know you will too!  

A sample of their refreshing content and a link lies below!

http://www.inc.com/one-thing-new/the-email-trick-that-could-save-your-vacation.html?cid=em01016week26d

The Email Trick That Could Save Your Vacation

After my last vacation, I declared email bankruptcy. Translation: I deleted everything. Find out why this works magic.

Nothing kills a pleasant vacation buzz like 1,042 emails waiting in your inbox.

That's why, after my last vacation, I declared email bankruptcy. Translation: I deleted everything.

My first encounter with email bankruptcy was inadvertent. I only discovered that a former colleague had deleted all the email that came in during his vacation because his boss told me I had better send him another one. It seemed sort of sneaky at the time.

But now that Lauren Young, a journalist and editor with Thomson Reuters (and another former colleague), has coined a catchy term for getting rid of all those messages, so-called email bankruptcy is out in the open. Respectable, even. “There’s something so liberating about going into your inbox and deleting it all,” says Young.

It’s not as if Young’s creditors are caught completely unawares, as I was the first time I encountered email bankruptcy. Her autoreply gives an alternate contact. It warns correspondents that due to the expected volume of email upon her return, she may declare email bankruptcy. She links to a story in Fast Company where she’s quoted speaking about email bankruptcy, so people know what it is. She encourages people to get back in touch when she’s back in the office.

Like a lot of tricks for managing email, this one has the unfortunate side effect of making someone else do more work. Someone managed to remember to send me an email, and actually sent it, and now I was telling them they had to email me all over again. Is that fair? “It’s totally fair for vacation,” says Young. “It’s so hard for people to really manage to unplug,” and then when they get back, they’re punished with the deluge of email.

While some might find temporarily solace in trying to keep up with their email even while they’re supposedly on vacation, a raft of studies detail the health risks of our always-on culture, especially to those who can’t seem to put down their smartphones.

The first time Young attempted email bankruptcy, she tried to finesse it. Her autoreply said that “due to the expected volume of email,” some messages might be “lost in the shuffle.” She’s not pretending anymore. “I’m done,” she says. “I’m down for the count. I’m starting fresh.”

Almost no one commented on her first email bankruptcy. “I didn’t ask or tell people. I just did it,” she says. “No one said, ‘You’re a bitch and I can’t believe you’re doing it.’" None of the higher-ups at her company minded. Her boss mentioned it in a meeting, but not in a negative way.

That’s the thing I found so shocking about my first (and so far only) attempt at email bankruptcy: Nothing happened, except that I got a whole day of my life back when I realized I wouldn’t be spending it sifting through email. I did scan my inbox to make sure I didn’t miss anything important. Maybe the truly bankrupt wouldn’t have done that, but since this was my first try, I was a little nervous.

Who shouldn’t do this? Well, Young says, you shouldn’t try this if your boss expects you to be at his or her beck and call 24/7. Then, I pointed out, you’ve got bigger problems. “True,” says Young. “But plenty of people work for crazy people.” Here’s hoping you’re not one of them -- and that a little bankruptcy makes your next vacation a bit more relaxing.

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So what do you think? Please post your comments below!

Au Revoir...

Madame Le Tron

Join us here each and every Friday at 3pm central.  Starting-up again on Friday July 12, 2013.