Pumpkin Pancakes with Pumpkin Spiced Whipped Cream

I have some important news to share, with mixed feelings.

After serious delays, our new office is finally complete and ready to move in. The timing is incredible/stressful/nutty. Moving into an office building during a pandemic leaves me with all kinds of thoughts, but let me explain how we got here and why this is happening now.

As I mentioned in previous posts, when we moved our Plan Z headquarters from Chicago, IL to Chattanooga, TN, my plan was to move into a completely renovated office building. This was in 2019. I worked with an architect and builder to design a small, spanking new office space in a freshly renovated building in one of the hippest areas in Chattanooga. The ZTeam was thrilled. At the time, we all thought we would be able to move in within a few months, so we boxed up the Chicago office and relocated to Chattanooga. Since the building was still being renovated when we moved down here, the builder put us in a temporary office space until our new office was ready.

Our temporary office left a lot to be desired. It looked like it was transported straight out of the 1980s. In all fairness, that building was being renovated, too, and since this was temporary space for us, they placed us on a floor that had NOT been renovated. Dusty brown carpet, bulky office furniture, windows that didn't open, fluorescent lighting, the works. Don't get me wrong, we LOVE Chattanooga, but the office was the pits! I tried to do what I could to perk things up, but, as those of you who work in older office buildings know, there is only so much one person can do. All that being said, we had fun there. The temporary office was in downtown Chattanooga, surrounded by coffee shops and restaurants, which was nice. We rented three offices right next to each other. I had an office, my husband's office was right next to mine (with a private connecting door that allowed us to go back and forth between spaces) and Jen and Jess shared an office. The rest of our staff works remotely anyway, so they all stayed right where they were.

We thought we would be there for six months. This was in the spring of 2019. Well, guess what? It's now October 2020 and we still haven't moved into our new office. The renovations exposed a lot of structural problems that had to be fixed. And then the basement flooded. And then COVID happened....Yikes. All in all, it's been a challenging time. For a while, we didn't even know if we could continue to operate. Plan Z is not a large company, but we've got a mighty crew. My employees rallied during this time. We are making it through and we didn't have to lay anyone off or cut back anyone's hours. I have our dieters to thank for that. I'm grateful for all of the support we've gotten from our customers, friends, and loyal readers during this time. Times like these remind me of how much I have to be thankful for.

I'm writing this post from my home. We've all been working remotely since March, so the silver lining is no more 1980s furniture and fluorescent lighting. The office renovations are almost complete, and we should be working from our new location in mid-October. I'm relieved and anxious. Anyone who has lived through a construction/renovation project knows how uncomfortable it is to live out of boxes for an extended period of time. I'm glad that's going to be over soon. On the other hand, we're in the middle of a pandemic. Ugh. Our new office is on the 2nd floor of a building that will be mostly empty, and at least we each have separate spaces in our new environment. Half of our folks will still be able to work remotely. That's a plus. When I designed the office back in 2019 I thought it would be open to the public, that's all changed now. But we'll still be able to connect with you over the phone. And one day, when this is all over, we'll be able to have office appointments again. And meet our dieters face-to-face. I look forward to that day.

In the meantime, we are packing up and getting ready for another big move. If everything goes according to plan, our office will only close on October 15th and 16th. Those are our tentative move dates. You'll still be able to call us at 800-255-9853 and ask questions. Just push the appropriate extension and your call will forward to our cell phones. *Our phones might be completely down for a short time on October 15th. In that case, you can reach me by cell at 773-501-5301.

We will process and ship orders through Tuesday, October 13th. Until that date, I am making Plan Z 30% off. If we can ship it to you, then we don't have to pack it (and unpack it) for the move. So everybody wins...