A Winter Storm - Snow Is My Day Today

We're in the middle of another "Weather Advisory" today, with 2-3 inches of snow expected by mid-afternoon. It started snowing about an hour ago and it's going to impact my "day off" throughout. I only need to get to one grocery store today - my neighborhood store - but it's still going to be one of those days when I'll be quite happy to be home and immobile. 

2-3 inches of snow can be easy or difficult, depending on 
the moisture content of the snow. I'm hoping this will be 
a dry snow - those are easy to clear from driveway and 
walkways. If it's a water-filled wet snow, it's going to 
be a lot more work to keep things clean and I'll have 
definitely gotten my 10,000+ steps in and a considerable 
amount of distance into my trek to Petra. The first 
challenge will be the gym - I'll have to brush off the car 
after my morning swim. 

Of course it's also trash day today, so I'll be carting the trash and recycling bins to the curb before I leave for the swimming pool. They won't have a major amount of snow on them when I'm able to return them to their home in the garage later this afternoon, but I guess I'll be shoveling several times to avoid as many tire tracks as possible. Maybe, if I'm really energetic, I'll find the snowblower instructions in the kitchen drawer where we keep those sorts of things, and find out how to turn the damnable thing on and use it. Two to three inches isn't a massive amount of snow, but it might be good practice. The snow should end by mid-afternoon if the weather prediction is right. 

We have one of these - a Cub Cadet snow 
blower. The directions are at the handle 
area. The first thing is "Insert the key", but 
I have no idea where the key is ... so that's 
hurdle number one - LOL. If I can get that 
figured out, the rest should be do-able and 
rather fun, all things considered. 

Yesterday was a VERY busy day at the shop. It wasn't that we had that many people, but we had one of our more dedicated beaders in to stock up for the winter months (she has a farm, so she has time to craft during the winter, and very little time during any of the other seasons). She makes incredible beaded snowflakes - just stunning - filled with Austrian crystals and faceted beads to catch the sunlight. By the time she was finished (and she spent more than three hours shopping with us), she had a cash register tape that was more than 4-1/2 feet long and a very full shopping bag for her merchandise. These are the type of customers I adore - wanting to do specific things, and willing to purchase the products that will allow success in their projects. 

Many of our customers over the years have made 
beaded snowflakes. We carry snowflake 
frames in three different sizes and sell them 
all year round. This particular customer of ours 
uses Austrian crystals and assorted beads in 
patterns and colors I've rarely seen, and makes 
exceptionally beautiful snowflakes. They are 
similar to this, but even better. She's got a 
great eye for design and detail. 

I need to start looking at Shopify and Etsy (and maybe Wix) to find out what will work best for us as we shift from a physical location to a virtual one. We'll need to sell down and sell off whatever will remain after we close the store later this year, and we probably will start of that sooner rather than later. Hopefully I'll get some time this afternoon to start looking into options. I never seem to have a lot of time at work to spend on research, and it's not something I can just "jump" into without knowing it will do what I need. Do you shop online at Etsy or Shopify? Do you have a preference? Let me know your thoughts and experiences, it could be a great help to me. 

After retirement, the options are huge. We'll still have
merchandise remaining to sell. So, should I build 
a website with Squarespace, Shopify or Wix? Should I 
sell on Shopify, Etsy or just clear things out on Ebay? No 
matter what, I'll have to take a ton of photographs, so 
I might finally have to dive into a new digital SLR camera. 
That's another bunch of research. Argh! 

I also need to do other household things today - laundry, making my next batch of "Ogre Juice" for the coming days, and some general housekeeping. I expect I'll be quite happy to finally sit down at 4:00 pm for my weekly chat with Aearwen. We had to miss last week because I was working, so we'll have lots to catch up on. After all, it's a new year and we haven't spoken since just before Christmas. So, have an excellent Wednesday, enjoy your day and the people you happen to interact with, and I'll be back tomorrow. Peace!