Okay, my episode of “Meg’s Great Rooms” just aired on HGTV.
It seems so long ago that we made the pieces and filmed the episode.
I think it all looked great. The kitchen. The colors. The texture. MY KNOBS!!!
I especially liked seeing the couple’s reaction when they came in for the “Big Reveal.”
And even more, that one of the little kids pointed out the knobs!!!

I must admit I was hoping for a little more air time. But realistically, I knew that it was
only a 30 minute show… minus commercials… that doesn’t leave a lot of time for ME?!

We filmed close to five hours of footage in my studio, as well as some additional footage
of me in the house helping Meg install the knobs onto the cabinets. Sadly, there was a LOT
of footage left on the cutting room floor… as expected. With that, I think they also lost
a lot of my witty banter and snappy repartee! They missed some of the funny parts with
Meg working in the studio. Especially the part when she finished making her “twisted horn”
drawer pull and didn’t like it so much – so I reached over a squished it right in front of her!
And told her she can always make another one… it’s just clay!

I think I came off looking pretty professional – and they showed a good assortment the work
in my studio. I just wish I was identified better as “Fire When Ready Pottery” and not quite
so much Lillstreet. I’m sure they were going for more of a “community” feel.

All in all, I was quite pleased with the episode. I was excited when it got to my part.
When Meg finally came over to Lillstreet on the show, I must admit I got a little giddy,
even though I already knew what was going to happen!

I guess I should be excited about my “minute & forty seconds” of HGTV Fame!
In my head I was pretty much expecting it to be edited down to about 19 seconds!!!

All set up and ready to go at the Hinsdale Fine Arts Festival.
It’s going to be a beautiful weekend under the best shade tree in the park!!!

Two days of fun in Burlington Park. Both days from 10:00am-5:00pm.
Saturday, June 9th & Sunday, June 10th, 2012.
And the shelves are packed with LOTS of pots!!! Come early for the best selection!

It was great this year… as there were two empty booth spaces right next to me.
So I “spread” out a bit and created the Fire When Ready Garden Shop! Complete with
textured terra cotta planters, windowsill herb flower pots and groovy garden stakes!

Plus a little shameless self-promotion along the way never hurt anything…
especially if it’s about my big TV debut tonight on HGTV!!!

Just a quick reminder, if your a Facebook Fan of any small business Page (like mine),
your probably NOT getting all of the updates you want to be getting.

If you’ve LIKED a page, you used to get all of the posts automatically… but now that
Facebook has “gone public” now they expect small businesses to actually pay money
to “”Promote” their posts to get them to their Fans! And most people don’t realize.
They may have noticed fewer posts in their News Feed & wondered why. Now we know.

Case in point, for the past five posts I’ve put on my business page,
I’ve only “reached” 5%, 6%, 6%, 16% and 19% of my Fans!
What’s up with that?! That’s not enough for my liking!

If you want to keep getting updates from your favorite Pages, follow these steps…
1. Go to the Page you want to see.
2. Click on the “LIKED” button and watch for the pull-down menu.
3. Click on “Show In News Feed.”
And hope for the best…

Then call Facebook and tell them you don’t like their new methods!!! We want our Fans
to get our Posts, and I shouldn’t have to pay hundreds of dollars to do it!!!

And a quick question… do you like the sunrise better on the left or right?!

If you’re setting your TiVO for my HGTV debut this Saturday night,
there have been a few “slight” changes. Nothing too big…
but this might help you find it on your DVR???

The new name of the HGTV show is “Meg’s Great Rooms”
and the title of my episode is “Kitchen Transformed With Texture.”
And it’s still all about me… well, at least 20-seconds of it?!!!

Remember, it’s on THIS Saturday night at 8:00pm Central… June 9, 2012.

FACEBOOK IS GETTING GREEDY AND WE DON’T LIKE IT.

You’re probably not seeing all (or perhaps any) posts from your favorite Pages (like mine)
in your News Feed because Facebook is now pushing us (page administrators) to pay to
“Promote” their posts to the Fans. Before they “went public” I could make a Facebook post
and it would automatically show up in the News Feeds of all my Fans… who have signed
up and CHOSEN to get my updates! Now, the new greedy Facebook is expecting small
businesses (like mine) to pay big money to “promote” their pages. In the last few weeks,
I can now see how many people have received my posts…
and we’re averaging less than 25%!!!

Click the link below to see what you can do, please share this info with all your friends,
and add Fire When Ready Pottery to your “New List” and click “Show in News Feed”
while you’re there too. Thanks for following me… and…
LET FACEBOOK KNOW WE DON’T LIKE THEIR NEW PRACTICES!!!

Click here for a link to a “shortcut” that might help resolve this issue!

In case you can’t find where to go on your Facebook page, here’s a clue…

This morning my new addiction took over… beside verbal alliteration…
The sunrise was a little anti-climactic after yesterday’s beautiful sky.
So I decided to play a bit more along the lakefront with my new GeoCaching affliction!

The first one I found today was located between the Waveland Golf Course and the lake.
Apparently, a little more “makeshift” than my first three. I was a little surprised to find a rusty
old Altoids tin as the GeoCache. It’s apparently been there for awhile out in the elements!
Even the scroll to sign inside has been a little water damaged & weathered!

The second one was on the other side of the golf course nestled in the hollow of a small tree.
It actually had a loop made out of duct tape to help you pull it out from the hole. Inside was
an old prescription bottle camouflaged with more duct tape, the scroll to sign and my first
actual “treasure.” Now my understanding is that I’m supposed to trade-out the treasure.
I’m supposed to take the dice and leave something else behind. But sadly, I was ill-prepared
and didn’t have anything to trade in my bike jersey pockets! So I just signed the scroll,
left the dice for the next person, and pedaled on.

My third one this morning was located in the Peace Garden. I looked a little bit longer
for this one, and finally found it amongst the rocks… carefully hidden by a rock that I had
to move. And again, another tube not-so-subtely-covered with duct tape. I guess if this one
weren’t hidden by the rock the colorful wrapping would have been a dead giveaway!
Again, signed the scroll and pedaled on… to finish my morning ride.

So for those of you keeping track…
these morning “treasures” were my GeoCache finds numbered Four, Five and Six!!!

Serene. Calming. Relaxing.
And yet I hate to admit it… a bit anticlimactic after yesterday’s red skies!

Make some popcorn… set the DVR… cuddle up on the sofa…
for my big television debut on HGTV’s “Great Rooms With Meg.”
Airing this Saturday, June 16th at 8:00pm Central time.

Now sure, this isn’t my first television exposure… not to gloat, but I was on WGN’s
Bozo’s Circus when I was a little kid. And, not only was I on the show… I played the
game at the end when they would have a group of kids all playing the game. The challenge
was for me a my partner to stack cups & saucers on the flat end of a baseball bat. I held the
bat, and she stacked the cups & saucers… tallest stack a the end of the game wins!
Well, let me just say I was suddenly the proud owner of big prize…
a View-Master 3-D ‘Scooby-Doo’ Slide Projector!!!

But I digress…

Back to the real show… get ready to watch my “20-seconds of fame” this Saturday on HGTV.
I did a special project for them for a kitchen remodeling show they were doing. I made the
pieces and they came into my studio to do some filming of Meg and me. We did almost five
hours of filming… but I’m confident all of “my best work” will be left on the cutting room floor!
I’m sure they’ll craft all the pieces together to make a great show. I’m confident… or…
The editors thought it would be fun to see me all sweaty, flustered and rambling on like an
idiot on screen. It was seriously like 90-degrees in my studio. Trust me, it could go either way…

And let me just say… I still wish I had kept the ‘Scooby-Doo’ View-Master!!!

After the rain… after the red sky… after the sunrise…
I had already turned around and headed home, so why not stop to play a little?!
So the “dorky” hobby continues. And I found two more GeoCaches!

The first one was just feet off of the lakefront bike trail. Literally like a foot!
Can’t tell you exactly where it’s at, but I can tell you it was very small and magnetic!
So you just unroll the scroll, sign it and put it back. Keeping it very discreet & secret
so that some stranger who’s not playing the game from taking it and ruining the fun
for everyone else! So it’s back in place… a foot off the bike trail.

The second one was hidden inside a small stump under a sprawling bush.
Hidden so much that you actually have to use another small twig to “fish it out”
to get to the blue tube cache! Unscrew the top, sign the scroll, then it’s back in the stump!

So, for the record… that’s my GeoCache #2 and #3.