David Whitehurst’s Dry Cleaning News Champion Cleaners The Best Dry Cleaning Ever...Or It’s Free May 2013 Champion Cleaners The Best Dry Cleaning Ever ...Or It’s Free Our Services to You Professional Dry Cleaning and Laundry The Strength of a Mother Expert Alterations With May 12 being Mother’s Day, I was thinking back on my childhood and how my Mother influenced my life. She’s been gone for 15 years now but her influence is not. Comforter & Bedspread Cleaning My Mother was small in stature at under 5 ft. tall. But she had guts and moxie. Once back in the early 1960’s, while sitting in her car waiting on us to come out of a store, a stranger jumped in the car and demanded her purse. While sitting on the pillow she used to see over the steering wheel, she looked at the much bigger man in the eyes and sternly said “I’m not giving it to you!” and she leaned on the horn. He left quickly. Times are different today. But Mom had courage. While she was gone before I started Champion Cleaners in 2002, in some ways she might be responsible for me being in the business of caring for your wardrobe. Do you know why? She planted a number of fertile ideas in my mind over the years that molded my reality. I didn’t realize what she was doing at the time, but I bet she did. I like to write things down as I think of them so I listed out some of the idioms that I distinctly remember during the first 18 years of my life in the 1950’s and ’60’s. I thought I would share them with you. Here goes:            Clean up your room. You’ll feel better about yourself. Stand your ground but don’t ever start a fight...and don’t hit girls. Dress nice when you go out in public. Sweep off the driveway and carport. You’ll feel better when it’s clean. Don’t be so shy. Be confident. Speak up and look the other person in the eyes. Clean up your room. You’ll feel better about yourself. Please wash my car. I feel better when my car is clean. Take the trash out twice every week...without me having to ask. Clean up your room. You’ll feel better about yourself. It’s always easier to tell the truth than to lie. The truth might hurt but it’s easier to remember. When dealing with people, think from the heart and not the brain. I’m sure there are hundreds of other ways my Mother influenced my life but these are phrases I can still hear her telling me today. I think my Mother led me to the dry cleaning and laundry business because I really like clean and neat. Guess what...“clean and neat” just makes me feel better about myself. And I bet clean and neat makes you feel better, too. I may not always achieve my goal of clean, neat and organized, but I feel bad when I don’t. And her ideas about how to treat people are part of Champion Cleaner’s philosophy. I promise we’ll never start a fight with you, we think from our heart, and we all love “clean and neat”...just like you. Moms leave lasting impressions and a Mother has the ultimate influence on the character of kids. The only sad part of this is that you may never be sure about how much your influence affects your kids character. And your kids may never say “thank you.” But rest assured, your kids have heard it and they will appreciate it...eventually. Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms! Area Rug Cleaning Textile Restoration Cleaning from Fire, Smoke, Water, Mold Ugg Boot Cleaning Wedding Gown Cleaning, Preservation, Restoration and Alterations Leather & Suede Cleaning Inside this issue: 5 Tips For Breaking A Weight Loss Plateau 2 Natural Remedies For Moth Problems 3 Customers of Month 3 Champ’s Life Lessons - 3 Shine A Light On Loneliness “Quotes” of the Month 3 Mother’s Day Facts 4 Coupons for May 4 Contact Information David Whitehurst David Whitehurst’s Dry Cleaning News Page 2 [email protected] 5 Tips for Breaking a Weight Loss Plateau Rocky Ridge Cleaning Center 205.824.7737 Greystone Cleaning Center Anyone who has ever dieted has at some point reached a stall where weight loss completely stops. It becomes very frustrating but all it takes is a few simple changes… 1. Keep a daily calorie count of everything you eat and drink. I have had my best results when I’m doing this. After a few months, you’ll remember roughly how many calories are in the foods you eat. Watch out for things like salad dressings and sauces. They have more calories than you think. 2. Be sure to eat enough calories. This amount is usually around 1,200 calories per day for women and 1,500 for men. After about a week of an extreme low calorie diet, your metabolism will slow down and prevent you from losing weight. 205.602.3842 3. Champion Wedding Gown Specialist Cleans, Preserves, Restores Lower your carb intake. If you aren’t exercising very much, then you don’t need more than about 100 carbs per day. Carbs are needed to fuel high intensity exercise so if you’re a carb lover, then you must earn your carbs. Eat them after you exercise for best results. 4. Change your exercise routine. If you haven’t been exercising, then just start slowly and you will see results. If you have been exercising, then you might need to make some changes to your cardio and/or weight training routine. For instance, if you’ve been doing long distance walking or running, then start adding in some sprints or stadiums. 5. Drink more water. When you become dehydrated from a low water intake, you will retain water and this will show an increase on the scale. When you increase your intake, it will flush out the toxins built up in your body from throughout the day. Drink before you need it! 205.408.2797 Calera Cleaning Center 205.668.4727 Pickup & Delivery Service 205.588.4120 Textile Restoration Cleaning and Area Rug Cleaning 205.588.4121 We’re on the Web at Natural Remedies For Moth Problems ChampionWedding GownSpecialist.com After reviewing how to deal with a moth problem in your drawers and closets last month, Rob Langford asked if there was a better method for chasing away moths besides moth balls. He was so right in wanting to avoid moth balls because after a little research, I found that moth balls are carcinogens and are especially dangerous to kids and pets. So here are some natural remedies for deterring moths. Try Our Free Valet Service Once your clothes, your closet and your drawers are clean and free of live moths and larvae, use the following herbs in a sachet (like a small cotton bag with a draw string) to keep them from coming back: lavender, dried mint leaves, sage, cloves and rosemary. These need to be replaced every two or three months. ChampionCleaners.com and This is twice-a-week pickup and delivery service. To qualify you need to: 1. Live or work in our service area, and 2. Average $30 or more a month in cleaning Call Billy Mims at 6023842 to get started or to find out more about this FREE service...and we’ll even give you $10.00 in FREE cleaning just to try our Valet Service! You can also use cedar chips placed in a sachet. You’ll need to sand these once a year to get the cedar aroma fresh again. But this is only an annual chore. Check Out Our Web Site At www.ChampionCleaners.com Register To Access Your Account Through The “Customer Login” Link “Pleasing People is Easy If You Do Things The Hard Way...and Hard if You Do Things the Easy Way” ~ David Whitehurst Page 3 Champion Cleaners Customers of the Month The Best Dry Cleaning Ever ...Or It’s Free Our Customers of the Month are recognized by our Customer Service Specialists because they are a pleasure to serve. Each receives a $25 Champion Cleaners gift certificate.    Bud Cason (Bud’s Best Cookies Rock! We know because he brings us samples!) (Rocky Ridge) Vallerie Mennen (Greystone) Gail Nolen (Calera) Memorial Day Hours We will be closed for Memorial Day on Monday, May 27. Valet Service Life Lessons From Champ - Shine A Light On Loneliness Editors Note: Champ is my 12 year old “rescue” Yellow Lab and my best friend (next to Sherry). He never complains, he’s always happy to see me... and he’s wiser than most. I’ve been feeling a little lonely lately. I guess I miss Molly. I noticed that my Dad seemed a little sad, too, so I decided to help him feel better. Late one night, he was sitting on the couch and I jumped up there with him and for a while we just looked at each other and he rubbed my ears (I love that!). And after a while we talked a little. We shared how we missed Molly and remembered the fun we had together. We talked about the weird things she did like jumping on my back for some unnatural reason. And we laughed about her getting a toy and pushing it in my face until I got in the mood to play with her. Dad did most of the talking...I’m a good listener. And after awhile, we went to bed and the next day I realized that I felt a little less lonely...a little happier...and more complete. And I think my Dad felt better, too. I think our talk helped us both. And this is what I learned: When you’re lonely and don’t feel right about things, find someone who you can share your feelings with, especially if they are feeling down, too. Shine a light on your feelings. Share your heart. If you help someone else feel better, it will help you feel better, too. I feel better! I’m happy again! For Memorial Day week only, we will change our Dry Cleaning Pickup and Delivery Valet Service as follows: Regular Monday/Thursday service will be changed to Tuesday/Thursday and Regular Tuesday Friday service will be changed to Wednesday/Friday Don’t forget that we clean more than clothes     Comforters Ugg boots Sleeping Bags Table cloths and Napkins  Area rugs, including oriental rugs “QUOTES” of the Month “Success is getting what you want, happiness is wanting what you get.” ~ W. P. Kinsella “What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity.” ~ Joseph Addison “A shady business never yields a sunny life.” ~ B.C. Forbes “If someone thinks that peace and love are just a cliche that must have been left behind in the 60s, that's a problem. Peace and love are eternal.” ~ John Lennon “ Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.” ~Anthony J. D'Angelo “A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather and ask for it back when it begins to rain.” ~ Robert Frost “Would you bet your paycheck on a weather forecast for tomorrow? If not, then why should this country bet billions on global warming predictions that have even less foundation? ~ Thomas Sowell “In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.” ~Yogi Berra Expert Alterations At Champion Page 4 Champion Cleaners Rocky Ridge Cleaning Center 2548 Rocky Ridge Road Vestavia Hills, AL 35243 205.824.7737 Greystone Cleaning Center 5403 Highway 280, Suite 101 Hoover, AL 35242 205.408.2797 Calera Cleaning Center 4204 Highway 31 Calera, AL 35040 205.668.4727 www.ChampionCleaners.com www.ChampionWeddingGownSpecialist.com Mother’s Day Facts Including the Mother Who These 7 facts come from Woman’s Day Magazine: Had 69 Kids 2. In 1948 Anna Jarvis was arrested for protesting the overcommercialization of the holiday. is a single, simple carnation. 6. A research study through Harvard Medical School concluded that flowers affect human behavior, making people feel more compassionate toward others and happier in general when fresh-cut blooms are around. 3. There are consistently more phone calls made on Mother’s Day than any other day of the year. 7. About 80 percent of Mother’s Day cards are purchased by women. 4. Mother’s Day is the third most popular holiday in the world, just after Christmas and Easter. The world’s most prolific Mother: Mrs. Feodor Vassilyev, a Russian who had 69 children in 27 pregnancies between 1725 and 1765. She had no single births, but 16 sets of twins, 7 sets of triplets and 4 sets of quads. It is reported that 67 of those kids survived past infancy. 1. In 1914, Anna Jarvis lobbied Congress to recognize Mothers with a holiday on the second Sunday of May. 5. Florists might hawk huge Mother’s Day bouquets with exotic blooms and designer names, but the traditional gift 10% Off Dry Cleaning and Laundry Minimum 5 pieces, Maximum 20 pieces Good for incoming orders only One coupon per household in May 2013 15% Off Sweater and Golf Shirt Cleaning Minimum 5 pieces, Maximum 10 pieces Good for incoming orders only Offer expires May 31, 2013 One coupon per household in May 2013 Offer Expires May 31, 2013 Cannot be combined with any other offer Cannot be combined with any other offer www.ChampionCleaners.com www.ChampionCleaners.com Go to www.ChampionCleaners.com/Specials for more savings