July 4th in the past has been all about picnics, being with family, gathering with friends and generally celebrating together. This year we will still celebrate but probably just scaled back. I will enjoy our 4th of July parade in my neighborhood as the children ride their bikes, a fire truck will be in the parade and others will be walking. I look forward to this each year as the children ride their bikes and wagons that they have decorated.
My emergency this week was that I opened my last jar of strawberry jam that my daughter, Joy Day, and I make. Strawberry is my favorite although we make peach, plum and apple butter. It is getting close to time when those beautiful strawberries will be in season and we can make more for us to stock up for the year. It is quite a production as we make enough for her family and me. It is also very messy and time consuming but sooo worth it. The jam that you buy in the store does not even begin to compare to what you can make at home. We look pretty scroungy in the pictures of us making jam, so I though that I would put one of us together where we are looking a little nicer.
Direct mail is a good way to get your message to your target market. 74% of mail recipients at least scan advertising mail. 53% take the time to fully read advertising mail. Only 24% of advertising mail is throw away without looking at it.
Call us today at 865 584-2265 or email me at phyllis@burnsmp.com for a free estimate.
Hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable Labor Day weekend.
I have been working on updating my house for the last few years. Hopefully the last thing that I am doing is the kitchen. I had a customer a few years back that paints kitchen cabinets and they do a really good job. My cabinets are pretty old but were in good shape. I had to take everything out of the drawers and they took the doors and drawers back to their shop for repainting. I put everything in boxes according to the drawers and was able to cook despite the mess. Last week they finished and it makes the kitchen so much brighter. Today the granite people are coming to make a template of the counter tops and they have to have everything off the counter tops in order to do this. My job this evening will be to put everything back in place. Hope I remember how to hook up the computer.
One thing that I have been putting off for years is cleaning out the attic . When my youngest daughter Joy was in college she asked when were we cleaning out the attic. I told her we were not cleaning it out and that we were going to die and leave everything to them, including the attic. I was only kidding but I bet she was surprised when I had it cleaned out. I had 3 helpers and it was a trip down memory lane for sure but what a mess. All 4 of us were covered in dust and it took some time to vacuum up the mess.
With the remodeling, puppy sitting and working, my summer has started off very busy. I think I need a trip to the beach already.
It is Friday and who doesn’t need a break. After sitting at a computer all day Amy, our Mailing Manager need a break and came into my office to play with Lincoln. He has been lazy all day, snoring under my desk. She had to coax him from under my desk to get him to play. It is Friday and I think that he has started his weekend early. Oh wait, he doesn’t do anything every day, he is living the life. He could be just a bit spoiled.
Hope everyone has a great weekend. I am having my attic cleaned out, bright and early in the morning. It will be interesting to see what is up there. A lot of my two daughters things from childhood and teenage years. Joy once asked he when were we cleaning out the attic. I told her we were not cleaning it out, we were going to die and let them clean it out. I changed my mind on that. Joy will be here next Friday, no telling what might end up in her car.
Phyllis Robinette Burns, President
Burns Mailing & Printing, Inc. has been in business since 1981. It was started by my late husband, Ken Burns, in our garage. Ken was very good with anything mechanical and printing came very natural for him. He put two presses together that were not running and made a working press. After a couple of moves out of the garage, we built our current location at 6131 Industrial Heights Dr. in 1994. This was the same year that both of our daughters got married. If you think that building a building, moving a business and having two weddings all in one year is stressful, you would be right. I was Vice President of a local car dealership and supported the family while Ken got the business going. In 1990, I joined him and I have now been in the printing/mailing business for 28 years. In 2010 Ken had a major stroke and could not work in the business and in 2014 he passed away with Leukemia. He was the love of my life.
I have a very professional and supportive staff with most of the employees being here for some time. The great thing is that if I cannot be at the business, I don’t have to worry that my customers are not being taken care of. We pride ourselves with great customer service. Their success is our success.
If you would like to find out about our great customer service for yourself, give us a call at 865 584-2265 or email me at phyllis@burnsmp.com for a free estimate. You can also set up an appointment for a free consultation about your project. I think every good direct mailing or printing should start at inception.
We are 100% women owned and certified by the State of TN as a Women Business Enterprise (WBE).
Last weekend, my daughter, Joy Burns Day and I made 41 half pints of strawberry preserves. This is had become a tradition for us to make preserves every summer. We make strawberry, plum, peach and I make apple butter. It all started when one of my former employees, Nancy, brought me a jar of peach preserves and my daughter tasted it on a biscuit and declared that it was the best thing she had ever eaten out of a jar. We bought peaches for Nancy as an incentive to come over and teach us her method of making peach preserves. We have been making various preserves now for about 10 years. Ken, my late husband, enjoyed it as well and so he bought us the big copper pot in the picture. Copper cooks so much faster than stainless steel. We each have our own chore in the process. I prepare the fruit and chop it in a food processor. Joy does the cooking. Kate, my 10 year old granddaughter labels the jars. This years batch turned out beautiful. Joy said “the preserves are so red that it looks like we added food color”.
I don’t know which I enjoy the most, eating the preserves or the family time together making them. Come to think of it, I love both.
I was born in the middle of World War II. I shudder to think what would have happened if we had not won that war. We were living behind the fence when my Dad was called up to serve in the Army but when they found out that he was working at Oak Ridge they sent him home. He did not even know what he was working on until he heard it on the radio.