Randi Carr

As most of you know, my name is Randi Carr and I am a stay-at-home mother of two beautiful children (Samantha- born Feb 2006 and Logan born Feb 2009) and a stepmother of one (Taylor- 11 years). My husband is an industrial plumber that generally works in the Edmonton area, but once in awhile he travels the province for short periods of time (months on end as of the fall 2010). It is these times that it gets really chaotic around here and I need my customers patience and understanding. I must admit, I do have the best customers that anyone could ask for and I have never encountered a person that did not understand the trials of motherhood and the unpredictable events that can occur that comes with having small children and a family. For this I am grateful.

As of March 2010, I hired a long time friend named Jen (more about her below) to help through the crazy times which are becoming a lot more frequent as business grows. Being that I have known her for years I knew she would be the perfect person to help get CfE whipped into shape. I also knew from past business planning (that did not pan out) that Jen and I would have no problems working together. She is a wonderful asset to CfE and I hope she will stick with us for as long as life will allow her to!

Okay, back to me... as you see, I have a tendency to stray from my original intentions often... this is actually how CfE was born. Originally the plan was to make my own natural bath and body products, get Certified as an Herbal Consultant and take the world by storm. Along the way, plans changed. I noticed that if I wanted to get the materials to make the products it was a long wait as the items had to be shipped. It bothered me, so I would order large quantities of product I figured I would use one day. Soon it occurred to me I had waaay too many ingredients and not enough time to make everything I had planned. So, I figured I would sell off some of my stock and save on the cost of the products. I built a website, and before you knew it I was receiving orders. It quickly became apparent that it was not only myself who needed materials readily available. I then began ordering items to see what they were and become familiar with it, then I would sell what I did not need. Before long I started to get busy and people started asking me where to find this and that. October 2008 Lynden House (my only competitor in Edmonton) decided to move to Saskatchewan and I had to make a serious decision... did I fill the void they were leaving? Or did I close up shop? At this point I was also pregnant with our son. As you can probably guess, I decided to keep it going and add to my inventory.

So from the initial $500 investment, a lot of hard work and with some help from friends and family, CfE is what it is now and growing rapidly. We are adding to our inventory every month and have met some wonderful people, both suppliers and customers along the way.

Being that Jen and I are both stay at home Mom's by day and only get to actually dedicate our time to CfE in the evenings (and sometimes wee morning hours) sometimes life can get overwhelming, to say the least. This is where the understanding of our customers is crucial to our success. Once in awhile we do have to close up shop on short notice to catch up on life and clear our minds and regain focus.

So a BIG Thank you to all of you for your understanding and helping us become what we are now. We promise to continue meeting your needs where we can and hope to continue this endeavour for as long as life will allow!

Happy Creating!

Randi Carr

Jen Stogowski

I am a stay at home mom of two beautiful girls, Ariana (4.5 yrs old) and Gabrielle (2 yrs old). I have been home with the girls after only going back to work for 8 months, Ariana was always getting sick and her provider was untrustworthy. So I decided to open my own dayhome, 1 took care of 2 boys until just before Gabby was born, I re-opened part time when she was 6 months old. I have been taking care of 2 brothers for 3 days a week since last March, July is my last month with them as we are at a cross roads with Ariana starting Kindergarten in the fall. Being home with my girls has been very rewarding while caring for other's children has had it's pros and cons it also has been worth while. Our family is ready for the next stages in our lives, which includes me going back to work.