The original idea for this business began in January 2000 when most of my children and grandchildren were home for a visit from New York, Canada and Colorado. Part of our Christmas was delayed so that we could all celebrate together. I'd made soaps, bath salts and candles as gifts for my daughters and they were so pleased with what they saw that they wanted me to show them how I did it. I spent a day showing them how I'd done everything and my three year old grandson had a ball making soaps to take back to his other grandparents in Canada. As we enjoyed this bonding time, they created soaps while I instructed and rocked my five month old granddaughter, and they all decided that I should go in to business for myself and quit my nursing job in favor of my own business. We all laughed and said "Yeah Right" and the idea was forgotten for a while. Talking to my coworkers at the hospital about our visit and what we had discussed brought a flood of agreement that I should investigate this as a second job.(They'd all also recieved samples of my efforts as Christmas gifts.) So, I made a bunch more samples of my goods and took them to work and sold eight candles the first night and got orders and inquiries on many more. Thus, the business began. The name T*J*A*K*S comes from the first letter of the names of my first supporters, Tracee, Jessica, Amy, Kelly and Stefan. You guessed it, my children.

As I've already said, this is a small home based business located at the moment in Delhi, LA. My husband is an engineer and we've moved four times in our twenty-eight years of marriage. We expect to be here in Delhi for about another year and then we'll be either retiring or moving again. I'm the mother of five children, four daughters and one son, four grandchildren, three granddaughters and one grandson, who live in Colorado, New York, Canada and Louisiana. I've been an RN for 20+ years and now find that it's time for me to move on to something that's a little less stressful both phisically and emotionally. I find that making candles, soaps, and bath salts is a great outlet for my creative energy. I'm also working on a cookbook which, I hope, will be ready to go to the publisher by the Fall 2000. I enjoy reading, sewing, cooking, and just about all crafts. I'm especially interested in applique beading and do a lot of Christmas stockings, tree skirts and decorations for family and friends when time allows.

Anne Mulyca, Owner
This is my family, minus my daughter Tracee,(we never seem to be able to get all five of our children in one place at one time, even for special events), taken at our daughter Kelly's wedding October 31, 1998. We are L>R Walter, Anne, David & Kelly, Stefan, Jessica, Amy & Stephane. Our daughter Tracee couldn't make it to the wedding.