Hello Muddah ... Hello Faddah ... My Stuff Is Labelled ... Thanks To Brother ...

The summer before Junior High, I went to camp.

I didn't know anyone when I got there, spent a week doing the sports, cookout, crafts, campfires, life lessons thing, and had a blast.

We sang the ever popular camp theme song ... Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah ... (Camp Grenada)

I made friends.

It was a wonderful experience.


When I left for camp, my mother was sure I was prepared.

Clothes, towels, face cloths, toiletries ... you name it, she packed it.

And to ensure I came home with everything I had left with, she labelled everything.

And I mean everything ... the old fashioned way ... piece of tape and a pen.
Thanks, Mom!

Now, Adam is leaving for camp for the first time.

My 10yr old baby boy, who (unless he's with dad or my mom) has never been away from mom for more than a couple of nights when I've had to travel for work, is going to camp for NINE whole days!

I'm nervous for him. I'm nervous for me!

I know he's going to have a GREAT time, make friends, do the sports, campfire etc. thing and learn some wonderful life lessons.

I also hope he's going to have a memorable experience, like I did.


And ya know what? The rules haven't changed.

I've been asked to label ... EVERYTHING!

Originally, I was going to do it the same way dear 'ol ma had done so, those many years ago ;-)

But as I've said many times, you just never know what's going to happen in the Korner.

Or in this case, what email will end up in your Inbox.


A few weeks ago, I received a request from a marketing company, to try the PT-90 Personal "Simply Stylish" Labeller®, and write a post about it.

Well now. How's THAT for timing!

I told the rep that normally, I would have declined the request. Simply because I'm not a labeller.

LOVE the idea of organization ... don't have the discipline.

But ... I happen to need to label a bunch of camp stuff in the near future and I've always wanted to try one of these gadgets, so I said 'Sure!'


So, I waited.

When it didn't arrive after the first couple of weeks, I contacted the rep to let her know.

I didn't hear back from her.

I waited another week and contacted her again.

I was disappointed now. I wanted my snazzy new labeller!

But, I also understand that nothing is ever a 'done deal' until it ends up in your hands.


Shortly after I sent the second message, the phone rang.

It was a representative from Brother Canada.

He was following up on the message, directly from the manufacturer in Montreal, on the unanswered message I had sent to the marketing rep in New York.

Well now. That was nice!


We spoke on a Friday.

He assured me I would receive my snazzy new labeller very soon.

A few days later, it arrived! With a nice little letter from the rep.

It's a PT-90 Personal "Simply Stylish" Labeller ®

It features:

• 3 changeable faceplates for personalizing your machine's look


• 8 Deco Mode Patterns for extra-stylish labels


• Uses durable "M" series tapes - available in 2 widths


• Easy view, 12-character LCD display


• Prints 1 or 2 lines of text


• 8 Type Styles and 7 Framing options


• 173 Symbols

Info taken from HERE

I put in batteries and cartridge, changed the face place, turned it on, printed the first label on my first attempt, and then the little message popped up in the display ... 'Low Battery'.

Side Note: Do NOT use cheap ass dollar store batteries in your new labeller!

I started off with something easy.

Name only, in whatever font it decided to give me.

Knowing Adam would want to try it, and not knowing how many more labels it would print on the cheap ass batteries, I decided to put it aside until he got home.

That would also give me time to read the manual, and figure out which key combinations I would need to print the skull and crossbones pic that I knew he'd want as soon as he saw it.

Of course, as soon as he walked through the door I heard, 'MAMA! Did you figure out how to use it! Does it work? Can I try it?'

Do I know my kid or do I know my kid? ;-)

Once I gave him the rundown on how he could change the text size and add the cool characters, he managed to get a couple out before the labeller finally said 'PULEEZE!' to our battery choice, rolled over and labelled no more.

Next day, I picked up the expensive good recharagable batteries.

I've got NINE days worth of crap to label, I don't want to see 'Low Battery' again!

And we didn't.

And we labelled.

Almost everything.

Face cloths, towels and more towels

Yeah ... clothes too ...

I got him a little address book,

so he can keep track of all the info of his new friends ...

He labelled that too!

Yes ... we even labelled the suitcase!

Everything ... including the labeller, with bubble border (thanks to Adam)

As you can see, one of these hand held labellers is literally easy enough for a child to use.

Once you figure out the key combinations of what you want.

It took both boys only going through the motions once, to print out a label that had a pic, their name, and the pic at the end again.

It was like second nature to them, watching their fingers fly over the keys after only a couple of labels.


With one exception ...

The label prints out of arrow 1.

You push the little cutter lever next to arrow 2.

But ... for the life of me, I couldn't figure out how to use that freakin' little slot next to arrow 3!!!

You're supposed to be able to put your label in this hole, twist and pull and it will self-peel.

Yeah. I'll have to take their word for it on this one.

None of us could get that sucker to work for us. So we peeled the old fashioned way.

All and all, it's a great little gadget.

If you're a labeller, I think you'll like it.



To be honest, Adam will probably get more use out of it than I will.

Like I said earlier, the discipline for that type of organization just isn't there on a full time basis for me.


But ... I agreed to review this product specifically to label Adam's 'stuff' for camp, and for that, it absolutely did what it was supposed to do.

Until we used the entire tape cartridge.

Then ...

I went back to labelling the old fashioned way ...

Thank you Brother Canada, for offering to send me the PT-90 Personal "Simply Stylish" Labeller® at the exact time I needed a labeller, and for reacting so quickly when you discovered I hadn't (at first) received it.


My baby left for camp this morning.

Nine days.

Sigh.

I wonder when he'll discover that label I stuck on his butt ... ?

K.

P.S. If the title of the post didn't make sense to you, scroll back up and watch the video. Or, go to camp. M'kay? M'KAY!