My LJ Idol Story is Up and a Bit of This and That

I succeeded in writing, editing (always the most time-consuming part) and posting my first entry into the newest LJ Idol competition. I don't quite know how I was able to steal the time to write it, and I can only hope that I can continue stealing time as needed to continue in the competition. I do love writing to a theme, and I'm always challenged, which is what makes it so much fun. When voting opens I'll give all of you a link, whether it's just to read or (if allowable) also to vote. 

I love the challenge of writing to an arbitrary theme, and 
our Dungeon Master chooses some really good ones. The 
theme this time was "Quality". If you're interested in reading 
what I wrote, check out
https://erulissedances.dreamwidth.org/1118554.html

I made a mash-up of two recipes yesterday, totally by mistake. I needed to add two pounds of ground beef to my cabbage recipe and I knew I had cooked that in advance. I thought it was in two containers, but it was actually in a plastic bag set off to the side in the refrigerator. So, I made my second recipe with the first one (a multi-bean chili) that I had made on Wednesday. No matter, it actually tastes pretty good. I added some of my powdered chili peppers from last year's crop, and it has just the right amount of *zing*. 

I've always been against paying dues to a lobbying 
organization, but getting it for free ... well, that's another 
thing entirely. I went ahead and joined, and I'll see if 
it was worth the $0 after my first year - LOL. 

My friend Claire (Chickie Mama) is always telling me that I should become a member of AARP. I'm not fond of paying dues to them, but AOL, )my old and dependable AOL which I still use after more than 30 years), offered me that benefit at no charge for two people. So, JTAP and I are now members of AARP - LOL.  I'll have to read through the paperwork and find out exactly what they will do for me besides lobby Congress (a hopeless task for any organization these days).   

It took a ridiculously long amount of time to get the 
"smaller" watermelon cut up and ready to eat, but at 
least I've got that mess out of the way and can enjoy the 
fruit. I do love watermelon, but it takes a lot of time to 
get it prepped for eating (unless you are eating slices, 
and we rarely do that). 

DH had brought home a "smaller" whole watermelon on Wednesday and it was taking up valuable countertop space. So I also took the time yesterday to get that cut up and into the refrigerator. I'm relieved to have my counters empty once again - I only have two very small ones and having a huge green fruit taking up one of them wasn't making me super happy - LOL. 

I'm totally relieved that the large shipment of crystal 
beads arrived in good condition into the hands of my 
customer. Now I can breathe for a bit - until she decides 
she wants some more colors, that is! LOL

Oh, and the large Swarovski Crystals shipment I was sending to California? It arrived earlier this week and all is well. Dana's got her crystals to play with, and I can breathe a little easier. We learned a lot with that order, and I'll be much better prepared if I get another customer who wants large quantities and a lot of subtotals. Life is a learning experience, after all - LOL. Have an excellent weekend and I'll be back on Monday. Slava Ukraini. 

Day 2 Without Chickie - It'll Be a Busy One

I survived my first day without Chickie. I got the huge mail order finalized and when she calls in her credit card today, I'll put it into the mail tonight. Just waiting for the final payment before I send all of those beautiful Swarovski crystals to their new homes. Having this sale come up was both a blessing and a curse. It was a LOT of work on our part to get everything pulled, gathered, labelled and run through the computer/register, but it also means that I sold a LOT of crystals. I have a lot still remaining, but I was able to go through my Etsy pages last night and adjust quantities down, eliminating at least two colors. Whoot! 

My customer was purchasing Swarovski bicone beads 
in 3mm and 4mm sizes. Those are the sizes in which 
I have the most inventory, and the sizes in which the 
factory made the most colors. It's a nice box of colors 
she'll be getting later this week. 

Today, it's back to the swimming pool, then run home, have a quick breakfast, head to the bank to put in a deposit for the shop, and then, finally, to the shop to actually start the day. I didn't even get a chance to eat lunch yesterday, so I'm set for today  - don't have to bring anything, it's already there. I did get a single bathroom break in the morning. Nothing at all in the afternoon. Working solo with DH really sucks for me. He takes all the consideration for Chickie, but not when I'm working alongside. 

I was a very busy bee yesterday. Today I have to 
squeeze a trip to the bank into my morning. The 
bank is nowhere close to us anymore. It used 
to be just down the block, but they got sold and now 
they're at the far southern part of the Cities. 

So I'll have to see what today brings. Hopefully my customer can phone in her credit card so that I can get her Priority Mail shipment off to her tonight on my way home. She'll have new crystals by the end of the week, and I'll balance my books, which right now have her sale run through the register, but with no corresponding payment. That was a PITA, but I needed an absolute total to quote to her before she phoned in her credit card. 

I should probably find a different Montana photo, but 
this one is just beautiful, isn't it? LOL

So I guess life is normal here in the Northlands, the plants are growing (it's been a rather cool summer so far, though), the flowers are blooming, my veggies and tomatoes are getting bigger every day, and the bees are happily doing their thing over my raspberry patch. There's a lot to look forward to, but a lot of summer to get through first. Have an excellent Tuesday and I'll return tomorrow. Oh, and Chickie arrived safely in Montana yesterday. I'm sure she and Chickie Mama are having a wonderful time. Slava Ukraini. 

Another Bag of Crystals and Random Thoughts to Collect

I brought a bag full of crystals home from the shop with me yesterday. These are the rounds, and I started making my master list of them as I worked yesterday on a REALLY SLOW day at the shop. Still, I managed to keep busy all day by beginning my next section of Etsy. The cubes are all up now and I asked DH which shape I should start next. He said the rounds, so that's the decision. I'll use tiny bits of silicone to keep them stable for photography, but that's still a ways in the future. 

This is someone else's splash page of Swarovski 
crystal round beads from Etsy. I'll be putting 
mine into a similar format as I did for the cubes. 
The rounds have a lot of splash - they're very 
refractive. I'm looking forward to trying out 
some new equipment I got - a ring light - 
with these shiny ones. Probably within the next 
two weeks, I'll have time to start the photos. 

The cubes are completed and live. I'll have to replace three pages of the 4mm size because one color got missed, but it's not urgent and will be easy enough to do when I have those three pages rephotographed and available for posting. 

These are the next two shapes of crystals 
I need to photograph and get up onto 
Etsy. The rounds at the top, and the 
bicones at the bottom (not my photo - so 
not my quality). You can see the difference 
in the shapes quite easily. The cubes are 
already up and live. 

Of course, as I move forward in shapes, I have a larger quantity. I have more rounds than I have cubes, and I have more bicones than I have either rounds or cubes. I'll get very good at this by the time the summer has ended and the winter has returned - LOL. Today I'll try to do some organization and begin making my 3x3 grids, but it's also my "day off" and I have a bunch of things to do, plus I'd like to get some writing done on this week's prompt. 

This week's prompt has sent my thoughts down a lot 
of different plots and pathways. I need to actually 
choose one and sit down to write it up. I've wasted 
enough time thinking, it's time to be doing instead. 

This week's prompt is annoying only in that I've thought of so many ways to control it, I really have to choose a direction in which to walk. That's not going to happen until I actually sit down to write something, so I'll need to take a bit of time to dive into that. I also will be able to talk with Aearwen again. She's apparently feeling much better, although certainly not recovered from her Covid bout. Still, better is wonderful and it will be great to catch up with her, even if we call it shorter than our usual hour. 

So, I'm off to the pool. Time for some workout heaven before beginning my day and diving into a million tasks. I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday and I'll be back tomorrow. 

Retail - Never A Dull Moment

It's never a dull moment in retail. This morning, just after I had finished eating a lovely pear for breakfast - after I had been on the treadmill, taken my shower, and gotten dressed for the day - I received a phone call from my security company. There was an interior alarm at the shop. Knowing that getting an interior alarm without a breach of either the back or front door or another broken front window, I wasn't overly concerned, but quickly tossed on my jacket and headed over to check the place out. 

There's really no way for any interior alarm to happen 
without an exterior alarm happening first. Of course 
things can fall off walls or shelves, but that didn't 
seem to be the case. I'll have to keep an eye out - maybe 
that motion sensor is deficient. 

Sure enough, everything looked fine - no intruders, no breach of any entrances, and no mice (that I could see - LOL). I cleared the alarm, reset it, and returned home. Once here, I directed DH to get the motion detectors dusted today, provided him with an extendable duster, and returned to what I had been doing - writing my daily blog. The only disadvantage I could see for my quick back-and-forth run ... my tea is tepid. *sigh* LOL

The only disadvantage of this quick trip was my tea 
getting cold. I could reheat it in the microwave, but 
that's just ick. I'll just drink tepid tea and look forward 
to a second cup that's nice and hot. 

Yesterday, I spent the entire day transferring Wednesday's photos of Swarovski crystal cubes into the laptop, then bringing them up one at a time, cropping them, resizing them, and renaming them so that I can use them for my Etsy listings. I had fifty photos I had taken on Wednesday to process and it took me most of the day to get them pulled over, revised, and ready for use. 

I still need to upload the revised 8mm crystal cubes pages, 
but I'm working on the photography of the 6mm cubes 
right now. I have a lot more 6mm cubes than I do 
8mm (and even more 4mm cubes). I need to do this 
regularly to get that category fully up and running. Then 
I can start on the next shape - I have a LOT of 
crystals that I want to get listed. 

Today's goal is to finish the photography on the 6mm crystals. I got a bit less than half of them done on Wednesday in three hours. I want to push to finish this size today, but I also need to get to the grocery store, and I'd like to make another four Alkagizers so that I won't be in a time crunch next week. I'll have to see what I can do, but I'll do whatever I can. The photos simply won't take themselves, and I have it down to a formula now. 

Let's jump right into the day. It's going to be a good 
one, I'm just focused on that - LOL. 

So, that's my excitement for the day - a false alarm, a drive out and back on what proved to be a lovely morning after the storms, and a day to be spent indoors doing fussy work. Oh joy! I hope your day is a bit more exciting than mine - although mine started out with a bang. I'll be back tomorrow. 

And So Begins Another Week

I know...most calendars have the week beginning on Sunday and ending on Saturday. And although I have no problem with the week ending on Saturday, I find it hard to begin the week with my only weekend day off. So my week begins on Monday and ends on my Sundays, rather like looking at an ice cream sundae of multiple flavors for the week's days with the cherry on top being Sunday.

I couldn't resist this knitted ice cream

sundae as my pic for this. Too cute!

My Sunday was nearly perfect. I had a lovely time at the small rock and lapidary show that we go to each year. DH bought a fossilized cave bear tooth which was almost opalized - very pretty, and I fell in love with Stibnite crystals. I really wanted a wand of crystals that one vendor had, but they wanted $28 and I just couldn't justify that cost. I found a smaller piece at another vendor for under $10 and went with that instead.

Stibnite has a reflective grey color, very

metallic in appearance but brighter than

hematite.

Stibnite is a lead-based crystal found in China and Japan as well as other places, and works for personal power and wealth, operates on the base chakra and under Scorpio and Capricorn. It aids in changing conditions of work and personal relationships and can be transformative and protective. In some ways it reminds me of the mole in animal lore, that which allows for honest introspection and examination. All I know for sure is that it is quite beautiful and I felt I needed to have a piece of it. I guess I'll find out why I was drawn to it at some point.

Amethyst crystals are so common, but

so beautiful. I love their deep

purple coloring.

I also picked up a small array of amethyst crystals for my 2013 beading project. It is starting to come together in my head, even though it will be months before I can begin getting my designs down and determine my methodology and end results. I LOVE thinking about my future projects - so much fun!

Raking the leaves is hard work, but when

it is done it is such a feeling of

accomplishment.

After the rock show, I dropped DH off at home but it was a beautiful day and I had energy. So I put the rake into the car and went over to the other house to rake the leaves. That took almost two hours of hard work, but it's done now and I'm quite happy that I did some serious labor for a change. I think I'll treat myself to a new pair of gardening gloves this spring. Mine are looking pretty ragged by now - holes throughout and the thumbs almost falling off.