Splash for CF Recap!

If you have come into our store recently you have probably noticed that Holland Home Leisure is fundraising to support Splash for CF, raising money for Cystic Fibrosis. Prior to starting this pool season, I, along with many other staff members was not aware of the disease and the effects it had on many people. The disease effects mostly children, and in the 1960’s most children diagnosed did not expect to live long enough to attend school. Now, with research, medication and help from all of those willing to support the cause, many diagnosed children get the chance to grow and live their lives, and they may even reach their 40’s and 50’s. If you are looking for more information we do have some pamphlets in the store, or you can check out http://www.cysticfibrosis.ca/

We want to give a HUGE thank you to all customers who spared a dollar here and there, when we were selling water drops in the stores during the month of May. Every single dollar makes a difference!

As a company we decided immediately we did not just want to ask for donations at the counter, we wanted to help participate in the fundraising efforts. During May we hosted two BBQ’s; one during our Annual Victoria Day weekend sale, and one during the Apple Blossom Parade! During the Victoria Day weekend event, we had very gracious volunteers who spent their day in the cold helping to raise money! These volunteers included members of Megan Banman’s family (our Aylesford Assistant Manager), Jessica Fairn’s Husband, and service crew member Sebastian (also my Husband)! We also had volunteers from K-Rock, Chris and Marki, along with service crew member Sean come make a Splash at the Dunk Tank! THANK YOU!

Not only are we hosting events but we are raising money from store staff. Staff pitch in a quarter with every CAUGHT sarcastic remark, all the “Sarcasm Jar” money will be going directly to Splash for CF. Right now our jar is holding $51 dollars….that’s 204 sarcastic remarks, (we have been collection for years but still, yikes!!). We are also hosting casual Fridays, if a store staff member chooses not to wear their HHL apparel on Friday’s then they pay $2 into the Casual Friday fund. This rule also applies to ownership, management and administration, which aren’t required to wear HHL apparel anyway. Turns out our Casual Friday fund is at $52 dollars, so we enjoy wearing our casual clothes as much as we enjoy being sarcastic! J

Right now, we are hosting a bottle drive! We are amazed at the response so far of customers dropping off their refundables! Think, every water test that you bring in a pop bottle gets dropped in the Splash for CF fund! Now, if you were to drop off your bag of refundables at the same time as getting your water tested, the Splash for CF fund would grow that much faster!! Staff are being extremely generous dropping off all of their recyclables and we would love for our customers, or anyone else out there to do the same! So if you are hosting a Canada Day Celebration, and have some “empties” as the aftermath bring them into either location and we will gladly donate them to a great cause!

Thank you everyone!

-Liana vandenHof-Rhodenizer

P.S. Amounts are for New Minas Store only, I'd love to hear how Aylesford is doing!!

Wedding Season

It is wedding season here at HHL! Every Saturday of the summer is booked off by staff members who are either getting married, in a wedding or simply invited to one. In approximately a year there will be 6 or 7 staff member weddings (both service crew and store staff). Jessica, Darren, and Tim have all recently married, and Angela and Jenn are both tying the know this coming August, and I happened to marry a service crew member in March (so do we count as 2 staff members or one?). Lunch time breaks include talks of floral arrangements, music selections, and of course....the dress!

Not only are our customers curious about how our planning is going or how the big days turned out, but they are also preparing for big days of their own. I have had the pleasure of selling furniture to a lovely couple who were hosting their daughters wedding in their backyard! I am hoping they will send pictures of the beautiful reception with lit fire pits and cozy seating sectionals, with an in ground pool as the backdrop! I am sure it will be picture perfect!

So if you are hosting a bridal shower, baby shower (we get equally excited for both), or any other backyard special event and you need some beautiful, long lasting, comfortable furniture for the occasion stop in and take advantage of our Special Event Pricing that is on now! With the weather we have been having our fire pits may be the perfect product to both set the mood and keep you warm!

Look forward to seeing you all soon!

-Liana vandenHof-Rhodenizer

Red and White Dessert

With Canada Day fast approaching I began thinking of my favorite summer time desserts, that are perfect for warm days surrounding the pool.

Summer is finally here, and it is so nice to look out the window and see the sun and not gloomy threatening clouds. (Mind you it would be even nicer to be on the other side of the window). One of my favorite desserts growing up was Strawberry Shortcake. My Mom always made it with tea biscuits instead of pound cake and I think it tastes perfect! Either way it has bright red and white colors and is perfect for your July 1^st celebration.  

This July 1^st my family and I are escaping to a beautiful cottage on the South Shore, and we can not wait to enjoy some quite time on the water, away from busy every day life. What are you doing to celebrate the holiday?

Mom’s Tea Biscuits

2 cups of all purpose flour

½ cup white sugar

2/3 cup shortening

1 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons baking powder

¾ cup of whole milk

Do not handle biscuits more than necessary or they will be tough!

Spread out on flour surface cut into circles.

Bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes! For best results eat the day they were made!

Slice strawberries and mix with a small amount of sugar. Make Whip Cream and chill.

When you are ready to serve, cut the biscuit in half and fill the middle with your slices strawberries, and add a generous serving of whipped cream on top!

Enjoy your red and white dessert J

-Liana vandenHof-Rhodenizer

Have you met our Service Crew?

 

Working on the crew means early mornings, the service crew signs in to our Aylesford store at 7:00am in the morning; they live as far as Paradise to New Minas. They are normally packed up and out of the “shop” by 7:30-8:00am and they usually work until 5pm or later Monday through Friday. Even though they work long hard days, traveling all over Nova Scotia, we have been blessed to have many volunteers from our service crew for charity fundraisers, often on the weekends which are their only day’s off! Thanks Guys!

Rick Rooseboom is our Service Manager; he started with us in 1992. Rick’s job is to organize jobs, inspect job sites and help get jobs done on time. Rick works for us full time all year round.

Tim has been with us the longest out of any crew member, starting in 1985. Tim is now our In Ground Crew Manager, and he works with Rob most days. With 26 years in the business, his expertise is priceless to us.

Mike Hirtle-Senior Hot Tub Technician

Mike Hirtle delivers, installs, and does repair work on hot tubs. Mike started with us in 1991 and is now our hot tub specialist. Mike works most days with Jason G. Mike is also responsible for a large portion of liner replacements. He is one of our few service crew members who work all year round full time.

We currently have 2 above ground crews running! One crew is headed by Scott who started with us in 2003. He is accompanied by Richard and Jon. The other crew is headed by Curtis who started with us in 2008, and he is accompanied by Sebastian and Mike S.

Sebastian-Splash for CF BBQ

Jim started with us in 1993; he is part of our service crew, doing repairs, openings and closings. Jim also does liner replacements.  Jim works with Mark most days. Our other service crew is run by Matt who has been with us since 2003 and works with Jason L.                                                                                         

Our Deck crew is made up of Francis, Darren and Sean and they are responsible for all of the deck work around the in ground pools. Come into either location to see a selection of the beautiful work they can do.

Wayne is our Warehouse Manager and he has been with us since 2007. He keeps track of inventory and supplying stock for both locations, as well as doing pool pick up’s and all deliveries! Wayne is who is driving our large cube van that you may have seen around town.

As you can see there are a lot of guys to keep track of and it is now Kristi Huestis’ job to do so. Kristi has been with us since 2005, and is now our Service Advisor. She stays busy organizing all crew’s schedules, calling customers to set up appointments, and also starts her day at 7:00am.

I just wanted to send a quick thank you to all of them for all of their hard work, long days, and being so helpful to all of us store staff, and a special thank you to all of those willing to volunteer for Splash for CF this year!

Good job guys!!

-Liana vandenHof-Rhodenizer

Summer Hot Tub Fun

It’s finally starting to warm up outside! The yucky spring snow has melted away making room for green grass and summer flowers! It has me dreaming about those 30 degree August Days already!

I was just talking to a customer this morning about how much I enjoy relaxing in my parents Beachcomber hot tub during those warm summer days-YES, their hot tub! Who would think that 98 degree water would be refreshing in 88 degree weather!

Unfortunately, here in Nova Scotia, we have to deal with a little thing called Humidity! So, if you can dip into some water (with a cold beverage in hand) and escape the humidity in ANY way you’re going to end up feeling refreshed. Especially if you’ve just spent your afternoon raking and fertilizing the lawn, tending to the gardens or any of the numerous chores the summer brings with it that leaves us hot, sweaty and sore!

I find that relaxing in the hot tub for a bit actually makes the hot weather a little more bearable because your body has adjusted to water that is even hotter!

Still, if those summer afternoons are just too hot for you, grab your hubby and sneak out for an evening soak after the sun goes down (swimsuits optional of course) or invite your friends and family over and move your backyard gathering to the hot tub after filling up on a yummy BBQ meal and roasting marshmallows around the fire (swimsuits not so optional).

So don’t leave your hot tub feeling lonely this summer! Turn back your water temperature and include it in all of your summer fun!

Talk soon,

Katie McLean

Random Moments and Pictures

We celebrate all store staff members birthdays with cake. Any excuse for cake works around here, so we do our very best not to forget anyone! Even though we all get along great and laugh and joke on a daily basis, cake eating becomes extremely awkward. We all stand quietly in a circle in the spare office,  and comment only occasionally on the quality of the cake. This awkwardness extends to all other slightly formal occasions, such as staff baby showers, holiday gift exchange, and summer staff parties (during the day, not the after party). Why is this?

We have a love of themes and costumes; here at HHL any time a costume may or may not be appropriate we fully embrace the opportunity. We talk about the upcoming event for weeks in advance, thoroughly excited. When the day arrives and we walk into the store, and are so amused to see each others outfits. These events include, but are not limited to the following: ugly holiday sweaters, Halloween, themed customer events, as well as posing casually with a 9’ deck umbrella as if that was the normal thing to do, trying on an extra small child’s life jacket, and wearing obnoxious balloon hats during the biggest sale of the year. We are also extremely thrilled to see our customer’s reaction, or them oddly not reacting. It is very rare to have anyone coming into the store comment or even acknowledge the fact we are being silly!

Sometimes, our evening shifts can drag on! Friday night shifts until 9pm on occasion can include some strange behavior. One of my most memorable moments was a harmless game of hide and go seek, the store provides some interesting hiding spots, the unfortunate thing is once you are hidden and a customer comes in you either need to stay put or somehow reappear on to the scene to help out. I once had to escape the bottom of a 5 burner Vermont castings BBQ! I may have possibly come out and made a comment of getting those hard to reach cleaning spots. Don’t worry bosses; this isn’t a regular occurrence, although we have all stayed late to play a few times, next time you should join us!

So the moral of the story is, if you see us casually dressed as something unusual, cleaning those hard to reach places, or anything else that seems out of the ordinary it will not offend us if you to comment on it! Mind you, if only one of us is wearing an “ugly sweater” and not the whole group, you may have just caught us on an off day!!

See you all soon

Liana vandenHof-Rhodenizer

Fun Fact for You- Jennifer McGrath

Jenn McGrath has been working at Holland Home leisure since 2001. That’s longer than any other store staff member (besides Debby of course)! Jenn started out just like the rest of us, summer staff, and quickly grew within the company. She has worked full time at both locations and is currently our New Minas Store Manager and resident chemistry expert! You may have even seen her monthly articles in the Valley Scoop! If you have a chemistry problem, Jenn will always take great pride in helping you solve it.

Jennifer also excels at customer service, and does her best to make sure that all of the customers needs have been met, and they are leaving the store feeling happy and confident.

“Jenn is extremely patient and kind; these are qualities that both staff members and customers admire. When Jenn is training new staff or dealing with a new pool customer she always takes her time to go over every important detail. She maintains a professional attitude and always works towards HHL’s main goal, happy customers. ”-Liana vandenHof-Rhodenizer, Sales Manager New Minas

Jenn takes the title of most gullible Holland Home Leisure staff member (which Mike v. tends to have fun with from time to time). At our morning meetings, staff can always count on Jenn to reassure them that it’s going to be a “great day”, even when the days busy schedule promises to be a bit hectic.

When Jenn isn’t keeping the rest of us in line, she is often getting a little TOO excited about the little things in life! Youtube videos, her cats, and unexpected Tim Horton’s runs are all things that can always bring a smile to Jenn’s face.

Jenn is a huge asset to the Holland Home Leisure team. With her experience and knowledge, she is always willing to lend a helping hand, and we don’t know what we would do without her!

-Katie McLean

Education

When I graduated from high school, I thought I would take 1 years off before going to university, that 1 year grew into 35 years, now my dream is that maybe when I retire I will finally get to further my education.  I often say that my biggest regret in life is that I did not get a post secondary education.  Maybe that is why I put such a strong focus on education in our company.   When I started my work experience I thought I would use the education I had, to be able to do the jobs I got, little did I know that no matter what job you have, you will constantly have to further your education, education never ends.  After working in the same industry for over 30 years, each year I realize how much more there is to learn.  I do not think I will ever know it all, it is just not possible, but I am committed to continue to encourage not only myself but all our staff members to broaden their education and knowledge in our industry.

This past off season we invested in sending 8 staff members to an in depth chemistry school put on by one of our vendor partners Bio-Lab.  Over the past 20 years or so I have probably been to 15 chemistry schools, and to be honest I wondered if it would be beneficial for me to attend or not, but am I ever glad I did.   Like other chemistry schools I have gone to before, I heard much of the same things, but no matter what, I always learn something new, or once again pick up something that I once knew but have either forgotten or possible thought  was not important before.  Knowledge is never ending and no matter how mundane a course or seminar is, if you come away from it with 1 new bit of information it will have been worth while attending.

Education is one of the criteria we use when choosing our suppliers, why should we promote their products if they are not willing to invest in their dealers so that we as dealers can properly teach our customers in the proper end use of the product.  We have a number of industry leading suppliers who not only invest in us, educating us in their products, but often also invest in educating us in how to become more successful business partners . These are suppliers who realize that it is much more beneficial for them to help build strong dealer partners then to constantly have to look for new dealers. 

As a company we are committed to investing in our staffs knowledge.  When new sales staff are hired they go through an extensive training course before they are able to serve our customers.  Even then they will continue to learn each day as they deal with new circumstances.  We encourage sharing of ideas and knowledge as we realize we are only as strong as our weakest link, and to some degree we are all the weakest link.  We have also just gone through some training courses with all our sales staff and also service and construction staff.  I am sure that there were times that staff members  thought that the training sessions were a waste of time, but I would disagree with that, because I am sure that they all picked up at least one new bit of knowledge or idea that will help them better serve our customers.

Twice Baked BBQ Potatoes

Summer time menus are flavorful and fun, and this is one of my family’s all time favorite way to have potatoes! Having a back yard BBQ? This recipe is one way to really impress your guests without spending all day in the kitchen, and also a good way to get your little ones to eat their potatoes with out a complaint! Last night I paired this recipe with some salmon and corn on the cob! YUM!

Use big baking potatoes. (Washed with the skin on) Bake your potatoes either in the oven or on the BBQ for an hour, or until soft. (Sometimes I cheat and microwave them for a few minutes to speed up the bake time)

Let them cool fully

When they are cool, cut them in half and carefully scoop out the insides. (Make sure to leave enough inside the skin so they stay in one piece)

Mash the potato that you’ve removed from the centers of the skin, add sour cream, chives, salt and pepper, real bacon bits, and shredded cheddar cheese. (Add as much or little as you like of each)

Whip all together with your beaters!

Fill the skins back up with a generous helping of your whipped potato mixture.

Top with a little extra shredded cheese and a little paprika or your favorite spice rub (try our Butt Rub, that’s what I use!) and put back on the grill for 15 min (or until the cheese is melted and heated throughout)

Who is jealous of my leftovers for lunch today?

Enjoy everyone!!

-Liana vandenHof-Rhodenizer

HHL Life Lessons

Working at HHL for the last 7 years I have learned so much, so I thought I would share some of the most important things we have learned

"My ‘life lesson’ is to remember the importance of “Celebrating Life”. I continue to remind others, and myself, that many of the things we get stressed out about on a daily basis are generally not life altering. We might worry about our jobs, our bills, our direction but truthfully in 10 years they are generally things we look back on and say ‘Well that wasn’t worth getting worked up over’. If it is not something like a health crisis that is beyond our control then we need to maintain the perspective that ‘yes’ we have challenges but they are manageable and we can get through them. I’ve learned that life can be a lot more enjoyable when we focus on the positives of what is around us, not the negatives. Celebrate what we have, not begrudge what we don’t have! Working at HHL has taught me daily the benefits of having water in my backyard (and our customers!) to help me embrace the above. Family time, friend gatherings and surrounding ourselves with those that mean the most to us is true perspective on what matters most during our time her.!"-Brad A. Sweet, Partner

“Often times the only pool knowledge a new customer has is that they enjoy swimming, while the actual mechanics of the pool can be overwhelming to them at first!  I know I had my steamer oven for months and I would randomly push every button on the thing until in exasperated submission it did what I wanted it to do!  Patience is so important when explaining the mechanics of a pool or hot tub to a new owner. At HHL, our goal is to create an environment where the customer feels comfortable calling us or dropping by to ask us any pool related question without feeling that any question is too trivial!”-Debby vandenHof, Aylesford Store Manager

“I started working for Holland Home Leisure in 2005. During these past 7 years, I have learned many things from HHL. I have learned team work is one key factor that is very important. I always enjoyed completing tasks individually but when I started working at HHL I quickly learned that this is not the most effective way to run things. I realized that you have to depend on other co-workers to help you solve problems and run business more smoothly. The staff has shown me that everyone has different personalities and strengths and this is what makes the business stronger.”- Kristi Huestis, Service Advisor

“When you tell a customer you will do something for them whether it be to look into a product for them, check on work that has been done on an item we sold them or maybe investigate a product that we don’t carry for them, make sure you keep your promise!

Making a promise to a customer is no different than making a promise to a family member or a friend. Keeping your promises is important in every aspect of life because it build’s trust which all positive relationships are based on!”- Debby vandenHof, Aylesford Store Manager

“Change is GOOD! Shocking I know, but working at HHL things are constantly changing, so you learn that change is necessary! Every year something is different, multiple times a year even. Staff are new, procedures are “tweaked” and revised (this sometimes feels life altering), and simple things change too. Popular items can change drastically in the change of a season; fashionable cushion colors are completely different from year to year, even the store design changes. Which marketing techniques grab people’s attention are also changed throughout the years. I could go on and on about change but as Mike always says “you need to move the cheese” and “without change there is no growth”. I think we could all learn from those words!”- Liana vandenHof-Rhodenizer, New Minas Retail Manager

“HHL differs from other companies and always puts customer satisfaction first over productivity and making a profit. The staff would rather see a customer happy and enjoying the product that suits them the best. HHL has shown me why it is so important to make sure the customer is satisfied as that is what keeps a business running for 30 plus years.”-Kristi Huestis, Service Advisor

“There is something satisfying about helping a customer with a pool problem, you giving them your best advice and having that customer come back with a smile on their face to say that their problem has been solved. When I was a seasonal employee at HHL, I think this satisfaction is what kept me coming back year after year. Holland Home Leisure takes great price in helping frustrated customers solve their problems, and following up with those customers to make sure they are enjoying there products as much as they should be.”-Katie McLean, New Minas Above Ground Specialist

“My dad used to always say to me that when he started putting in pools, he never assumed it would be his life long career and he would often wonder what he would do “when he grew up”. This always surprised me so much because I assumed this was a life goal of his, and in reality it was just a job in the beginning. He became so passionate about his job it turned into a career. Many of us started as summer employees here at HHL and something about this industry and company has turned our jobs into careers. The more you embrace your job the more you succeed, the more you work with the company and showcase your strengths the more opportunities will arise for you. I strongly believe being passionate about something helps you thrive.”-Liana vandenHof-Rhodenizer, New Minas Retail Manager

Until next time

Liana vandenHof-Rhodenizer