One Step Ahead on a Winding Road - Happy Saturday to You!

It's the final day of our "Swarovski Crystals Blow-Out Sale" and I'm pleased with the numbers. I'm a bit surprised that we didn't sell more of the exotic crystals, but anything we've sold down on is a win in my book. The end of day sales totals have been good and DH is quite happy, even though we haven't seen some people I was quite sure would shop us. But, there's still today and I'm hoping we'll be very busy with customers today to wrap things up on a high note. 

It's been a fun sale, and we've sold a LOT of 
crystals, but we have a lot still on the shelves *sigh*. 
No way to avoid that - it's our largest single product 
category. 

DH was so exhausted and sore after the tensions of the last few days (although he wasn't working the sales floor, he was doing other stuff - like the wire sale), he came home and immediately after dinner, he went up to bed and went to sleep. He wandered down about two hours later to get some water, and then went right back to bed. Hopefully he'll be a bit more "spritely" today - LOL. 

I'm quite happy that it's the end of the work 
week. It's been exhausting - physically and 
emotionally. I need to get my feet back under 
me once again. 

Of course, today is a Saturday and there are some customers I suspect will be in today because they were working all week. It has the potential of being a very busy day ... at least I hope so. I'd love to end the sale on a high note. I'm going to hold on to the pages we devised for this sale also. I suspect they might come in handy once again when we're doing our store-wide liquidation sale. 

This is a year with a lot of stresses and challenges, not 
least of which will be the actual process of liquidating 
the company and closing the doors. The goal is to have 
everything sold, and I think Cheryl could do some really 
good things for us. I'll just have to dig my heels in regarding 
her fee structure. 

And that's another issue. I've been wanting to hire Cheryl to handle the sale for us, but I need a bit more information about what is included in her "No more than $41,000" estimate for her fees (and that doesn't even count her $15,000 advertising budget). But, I've also been doing a lot of research, and she's quoting us on the low end of business liquidation service costs. If we just run a "Going Out of Business Sale" on our own, without guidance and assistance, I think we'll lose out on a lot of money we could be making. I think it's worth hiring a professional, but we're already WAY behind time with this - she should have been here in July, and we should be ready to jump into things right after Labor Day. We're not. I'm going to have to phone her again. *sigh*

I'm not normally so focused on a schedule, but I 
have to be right now. Ick! 

Well, I'm going to try and enjoy my Sunday tomorrow. It might well be the last day I actually get off for many weeks with the exception of the State Fair when Sharon arrives. I hope all of you have an excellent weekend and I'll be back on Monday morning. Slava Ukraini. 

It's August and I'm Hearing the Clock Ticking Down - Tempus Fugit

Happy August. It's hard to believe the year is going this quickly! I'm just jotting down a quick post today. It's normally a "day off" for me, but I'm at work again because we're running our Swarovski Blow-Out Sale, and it's "All Hands on Deck" for the five days. We've had excellent response to it, although we're still not selling a lot of our specialty shapes. That means I'll have to work on photographing and putting them up on Etsy - a lot of work, but probably the only place I'll sell them. 

Whatever Swarovski components we have left, I'll have 
to make sure I get added to our Etsy pages. We have a 
huge selection of Swarovski pendants that I didn't have 
the time to photograph and add to the site. It might be 
time to spend some time photographing and working on 
getting them posted. 

I have Swarovski pendants, various platforms, rectangles, rivolis (of course), and other shapes; some with holes, others without. All of them are spectacular - gleaming glitz in wonderful colors. And I need to get them sold. So, I'll have to set up my photo corner once again and start taking photos and getting them listed. At least it won't be as difficult to do as when I first started putting our beads onto Etsy. I have a much better idea of what to do and how to do it. It's time I don't have, but it's something I have to do. In the scheme of things, however, although they'll take up room, it won't be as awful as our artwork. LOL

I have many sizes and colors of Swarovski 
pendant-style beads and they're lovely. 
They're not huge, they're subtle. I'll need 
to get those listed on our Etsy site. 

I'll be sending out a reminder "Only Two Days Remaining" email to my customers this morning. Chickie will be in on time (and she's been my main sales person for this sale - she's been a real trooper and I couldn't have done it without her). and DH will be in the warehouse district of Minneapolis, selling some more of his huge, heavy spools of wire. Apparently the company he's selling these to is closing their doors for good within two weeks, so we're getting these in to them just under the deadline. He has at least one more load to take over, maybe two. We had a lot of wire that was used in aircraft maintenance, but we certainly have no use for it now. 

What we're reselling is cable that was used in aircraft 
maintenance. It's copper cable sheathed in a coating, 
spooled on a wooden spool. We have a LOT of it. 

So, I'm going to make myself a cup of tea and try and relax for a little bit before heading to the shop for Day #4. I hope all of you have a wonderful Friday and I'll be back tomorrow to wrap up the week. Slava Ukraini. 

Day Two of our Blow-Out Sale is Complete, Now for Day Three!

Day Two of our Crystal Blow-out Sale had a very different rhythm than Day One. We didn't sell quite as much product, but we sold to more people and worked with them in slightly different ways. The system Chickie and I had invented worked great, and a couple of customers who asked for order sheets to be emailed to them for later, more intense, review got that as well. They'll be back in a second time before the sale ends on Saturday night. 

The sale is going very well. We've never offered 
a BOGO on Swarovski before, and our customers 
are loving it. We're not selling the odd shapes 
and sizes that we have. That's a problem. But we 
are selling down our huge stock of the more popular 
shapes, and that was also a goal. I'm calling this a 
win so far. 

As always, I'd be totally lost without Chickie. DH is busy doing DH crap - he's not on the sales floor at all, except to add more product to various parts that needed restocking. So he's increased out cut-up deer hide, and our available feather packs have increased. He's been on a stepstool quite a bit rearranging things. It's all to the good, but he's still a PITA. 

The North Oaks Rummage Sale is HUGE. I wasn't 
aware of how very large it is before now. It takes 
place at the Shoreview Ice Arena, and the proceeds 
are donated to "Children's Minnesota" which is sponsored 
by Children's Hospital Association. That's a big deal, 
and I'm sure they get a LOT of shoppers. 

I had an odd phone call from the North Oaks Fundraising Committee head yesterday afternoon. Apparently they run a garage sale every year to raise funds for various community events they hold for the rest of the year. They had four Native American items donated that they didn't feel they knew enough about to be able to put them out for sale at the event next month. At least, not without additional information. So, as many have done in the past, they contacted the store. 

Pipestone pipes were available for sale at Pipestone National 
Monument (in southwestern Minnesota) until 2019. At that 
time they finally listened to the tribes and pulled them from sale, 
declaring them sacred items. The stone is also sacred to the Sioux 
people, but at least we got the sale of pipes stopped. I've been a 
pipe carrier for the Oyate for decades now. Pipes are sacred. 

The first item was a pipestone pipe, which I immediately said a firm "NO" to. Pipes are sacred and shouldn't be sold or kept by people other than the pipekeeper. They were (and might still be) sold at Pipestone Quarry as a tourist item, but as I told the lady (when she just wasn't understanding well), it's like taking the cross from the altar of your local church, and putting it onto a table for sale. It's just wrong! 

This set of four sweetgrass baskets with lids is 
on sale at Google for $75. I'm simply not seeing 
where the baskets will carry an evaluation of 
$10,000. The market for basketry is at a low 
right now, but that value is WAY over what it 
probably should be. 

Then, apparently there are three baskets, possibly sweetgrass baskets. They are lidded, and one of then had an evaluation inside it for $10,000. OK, that I sincerely doubt - it's possible, I suppose, but sounds way off track for such an item. I'd have to see them. The last item was arrows and a quiver of a type. Again, I'd have to see it. She might set up a before-hours appointment with me to take a look. The sale is in September, so that should be soon. 

Apparently there also is a quiver with bone-tipped 
arrows. The bone arrows were used before traders 
brought metal arrow tips to the tribes, so this might be 
fairly old. Again, I'm probably not the right person to 
give much of an opinion, but I can direct them to one 
of the museums if I feel it might be worth their while 
to get a more in-depth look. 

DH was all in my face after this conversation, telling me that I had no knowledges of basketry, questioning my understanding of the material it was made from (which he simply didn't understand because he thought it was a material different than sweetgrass). He also was over me on the quiver - apparently the arrows have bone tips, which would be interesting, but might not be legal in this day and age to possess or sell. But, I'll be happy to take a look and see if it's something they can include in their sale or if they'll need to find a different way to get rid of them. I expect they'll phone for an early morning appointment within a few days. 

So, I'm off to the pool to work off some of my frustration. We're entering Day Three of our Swarovski Blow-out Sale, and so far I've been very pleased. Chickie's prep work has really paid off, and we're getting orders filled and lots of very happy customers, many of whom plan to drop by at least one more time before the sale ends Saturday night. I hope your Thursday is lovely. I'm looking forward to a good swim and (hopefully) another good day in our Five-Day Sale. I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Day One is Complete and We Survived with Happy Customers

Yesterday, Day 1 of our Swarovski blow-out, actually went well, even if we stumbled a bit. I had everything ready in case we had a crowd and people needed to self-shop, but people were spaced out pretty well, and they worked really well with Chickie. Our major sale of the day was from a long-time customer who basically pre-ordered because she knew she wouldn't have the time/ability to shop during the sale days because of work conflicts. She spent more than $800, so that made a good day a guarantee. 

There are so many colors and finishes on Swarovski 
crystals, and we have A LOT of them. In addition, there 
are a ton of specialty shapes, and we carry most of those 
also. It's a deep inventory and we'll be figuring out ways 
to sell it through the end of the year. 

Things started a bit slowly, but that was OK too. We had room to breathe. I'll be sending out another email either later today or early tomorrow to remind people about the sale. People ended up being spaced out pretty well. Chickie had put together a loose-leaf binder that was extremely helpful, and the fact that we ended up being able to go one-on-one with our customers was also excellent. I have a ton of items to clean up before we open today, but that's fine. I hope the rest of the week goes as smoothly. 

Ringing customers out with a BOGO sale is 
also a bit tricky, but Chickie managed like 
a charm. Basically, there would have been 
no sale without Chickie. 

Of course DH was of no help at all. He was busy grumping about this or that, and he did cut up some larger leather pieces into sizes that our customers seem to prefer. Still, he had a stack of leather on the countertop, sometimes folded, sometimes scattered, and he would leave it there while he checked on something else, or did something else, for hours! Very messy looking. GRRRR

It could have been a disaster, but people were well 
spaced out, and our one pre-order went smoothly 
as well (and was responsible for more than 50% of 
the day's proceeds). Hopefully the rest of the sale 
will go smoothly too. 

But, the important thing is that we survived our first day of the five, and hopefully we'll be a bit better at helping those customers who come through the door today. I suspect that our Friday and Saturday sales will be much busier, but that's just fine. We actually needed a slower day to get comfortable with what we were doing. I might have wasted a lot of preparation, but then again, maybe it's just fine. We'd rather work with customers one-on-one than just fill shopping lists anyway. LOL Have an excellent Wednesday. Just a reminder, Aearwen, I'm working today so no chat this week. But we'll catch up next week FOR SURE. Slave Ukraini. 

Even My Stress Levels Have Stress Today *sigh*

So the Swarovski Blow-Out Sale begins today. Am I ready? Maybe. I've done everything I can do, but there's always something that can/will go wrong. My early morning is compressed - massively compressed. I need to drive south to my paper supply company and pick up the 5x7 bags I had ordered last week. They finally came in yesterday and we need that size. So, I'll be there when they open at 8:00 am. That will cut into my store prep time, but nothing to be done about it. 

We don't do BOGO sales, and especially not on 
Swarovski crystal beads. But we're doing one 
for the rest of the week, starting today. I truly 
have NO IDEA what to expect. I know my 
customers, mainly, are respectful and polite. But 
there are always exceptions. I'll have to keep my 
mind totally clear to handle the intricacies of 
the sales register and the order in which our 
sales must be input to make sure all discounts 
are applied correctly. It might be a zoo! 

I had asked Chickie to be in at 8:00 am, but she has an early morning doctor appointment and will be in ASAP afterwards. I'll get the store ready as much as possible before heading to pick up those bags, but we'll be playing "catch up" until we unlock the doors and find out if our prep work helped at all. 

Our 5x7 inch flat merchandise bags are 
essential. We deal with a lot of small 
items. We've been out, having to use our 
next size up. It will be a joy to have my 
small bags back on my shelf again. 

I know DH will be minimal assistance. I'm really not expecting much from him. He's been busy shredding paper. I think we've almost burned out my favorite shredder. It's giving scree-ing sounds and an odor of burning. I'm keeping it lubricated, but he's not great on upkeep (which it why we've burned through several shredders in the past). *sigh* 

We have a top-line personal shredder at the shop, that 
is similar to this one. It's been a workhouse, and it's the 
second one we've had for the shop. The way DH is going, 
he might burn it out within the next few days, and 
we'll have to purchase another one. *sigh*

So I really need my swim. My stress levels have stress levels today - LOL. I hope you have a wonderful day, and I'm going to leave some of my own stress in the pool today. At least we'll be able to swim outside. I wouldn't have been able to yesterday - a day of thunderstorms and possible tornadoes. Today is a bit milder, slightly (slightly!) cooler, and the pool should be open for business. I'm heading there shortly. Have an excellent Tuesday, send calming thoughts my way in my day of mayhem, and I'll be back tomorrow (hopefully with good results from the first day of our five-day Swarovski Blow-Out Sale). Be kind, stay healthy and Slava Ukraini. 

Same Tune, Different Words - *sigh*

The original idea for our Swarovski Blow-out Sale was using transparency sheets with the products listed and rub-off markers for customers to make their selections. Great idea. I purchased more transparency sheets because we didn't have enough cobbled together from other things in our past history, and set down to copying the sheets onto them yesterday. *sigh* 

This is what I was supposed to have purchased at 
my local office supply co on Saturday night. 
Unfortunately, the one I purchased was slightly 
different than this, and doesn't work with ink 
jet printers. So ... back to the office supply store 
tonight on my way home and I'll see if they 
even have the style I wanted. I suspect just using 
paper with the transparency taped on top might 
work just as well, so I might do that version 
instead. 

After several failed attempts, I finally realized that although the idea would be great if I had a laser printer, it wouldn't work on my ink jet printer. So, I wasted almost $40 on a product I can't use, and since it's opened and a few pages were used, I can't return it either. *sigh* 

So, I'm back to paper, which I'm actually just fine with. I can return the rub-off markers, but if I use the transparency sheets as a cover sheet, I can use the markers, the transparency sheets, and less paper and ink. I suspect that will be the direction to go. Not exactly the way I had intended, but perfectly useable. We'll see - the sale starts tomorrow and the first day is always the busiest. 

We have a small store, even twenty people is a big crowd for 
us. Crystals are a real draw, and a huge product type for us. 
We want to reduce what we've got, so we're offering it to 
our customers at a sale price we've never offered before. 

The sale itself starts tomorrow, so I have a day to stress out, but also to make sure that everything is as orderly as we can make it. It has the potential of being a zoo, although the sale extends through Saturday, and we're certainly not going to sell out of all Swarovski in a day. I do expect that the first day will be crazy, though. It usually works that way. But ... we have a LOT of product to sell, and if people are flexible about color and/or style, they'll get a serious bargain. It's a BOGO sale on crystals, something we've never offered before and probably will never offer again. 

It might be a total zoo, but I'm hoping that 
those customers who are NOT interested in 
crystals, won't be intimidated by the possible 
crowds. First day will be the worst - it's always 
that way - but I expect the entire week to be 
quite busy - thus, no days off this week. 

Anyway, I'll be working all week this week - no Wednesday or Friday off at all. My posts might be short, but I'll still be here every day. And, if everything goes well, we'll have some super record sales numbers by the end of Saturday's final sale. Then we can collapse - LOL. Have an excellent Monday, I have a large to-do list so I'm getting to it. Slava Ukraini. 

Nightmares and Logistics for Next Week's Sale *sigh*

Next week, starting on Tuesday and going through Saturday, is our "Swarovski Blow-out Sale" which sounds wonderful on paper, and is beginning to sound like a nightmare for me. Mainly because I can't see the logistics of making this reality for my customers and my staff without running into major roadblocks throughout the sale. I'm glad I have a few open days to try and get things a bit more organized, but it's a huge component of my inventory valuation and I, truthfully, am completely unsure of how this will work. 

This isn't comprehensive, there are more colors of 
4mm bicone Swarovski than listed on this chart. But, 
it gives you a small idea of a very large inventory 
category. We have bicones in 5 different sizes, we 
have rounds and cubes in 4 different sizes, we have 
a multitude of specialty and pendant shapes, we have 
a huge proportion of our inventory on the books 
invested in Swarovski crystal beads. We need to sell 
that product area down. Now ... how to handle this 
sale effectively and efficiently with just three of 
us and a bunch of customers all bumping into each other. 

We have our 4mm bicones on display - that category/size had the most color selection available of all of the different sizes and shapes. So we have that on display. But there's nothing telling anyone that we have a shape in any particular color available, nor is there any easy way for a customer to check that. I truly don't know what we're going to do. I'll have to try a few things out when I get in to the shop this morning, and bounce some ideas off Chickie to see if she has any input. I might just end up putting boxes of "Rounds", "Cubes", and "Specialty Shapes" on the counter, although that will certainly increase our walk-off percentage on an expensive component. *sigh* Ninety-plus percent of my customers are honest and sincere, but that other ten percent ... well. Nice people (usually), but not exactly above-board. 

There are actually more bicone colors than are 
shown on this color chart, and we also have 
rounds, and cubes, and over 15 additional 
specialty shapes, also pendants and miscellaneous 
shapes. Swarovski is a MAJOR category for us, 
and I'm not sure we're ready for the logistics 
of this sale. 

I did get the two Connie Seabourn pieces finished yesterday. I need to put the sawtooth hangers into the frames today, but that'll be the end of that project. Then I can have Chickie choose which one she wants for Claire's gift, and the other one will be ready to sell. I'm pleased with how they turned out. They look good, and it was a fun project to get back into the framing business. 

This Connie Seabourn is entitled "Pueblo 
Evening". It's predominantly in the blues 
and violets, with a neutral back color mat 
(slightly less green than it appears in this photo). 

DH has been going through the boxes for shredding. He's managed to eliminate more than five boxes of materials so far - things that really don't need to be shredded. The shredding quotation made him go back to the basement and cull because he didn't want to spend that much getting our 20+ year paperwork backlog professionally shredded. We'll have to have quite a bit done, but every box eliminated is dollars saved. I do understand his rationale. 

This is the companion piece - "Pueblo Dawn". 
We get hints of pink coming through in this 
one. The two pieces are priced the same, $150/ea, 
and I'm quite pleased with the end result. The 
navy blue frame allows the softness of blue to 
surround them. 

But, the stress level of the next week, month, and months is starting to get to me. I awakened early after a restless sleep, and just gave up on sleep. Thank goodness it's a swimming day - I'll have the chance to work some of this ARRRGH out of me in the water before heading to the shop to start the day. I hope all of you have a terrific day and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

It Was a Great Sunday, and I'm Not Ready for Monday - LOL

It was a beautiful day on Sunday, and we relaxed on the patio with drinks and the hawks "screeing" at each other between the trees. The young hawks are out of the nest now, flying around the general area and trying to fend for themselves. I suspect they're still begging for food from Mum and Dad, but also suspect the parents are telling them to get out and find their own mouse or vole. They still dive-bomb DH when he's in the garden unless he's buried his hair beneath his shirt and puts on a cap. They don't seem to be phased or intrigued by my bald head at all, and have never come at me claws out. They just sit in the trees and watch me, but they don't bother me, just gossip. 

The Broadwing Hawk's chicks are now totally out 
of the nest and on their own. Our population, therefore 
has doubled in our trees, and they're calling back and 
forth often. They love to dive-bomb DH, but have 
never bothered me. 

Once again I made pork roast for dinner. DH happened to be at Target, and they had a roast that looked good to him, so he asked if I would be willing to make it again. Hell yeah! It's extremely tasty, needs minimal work to make, and we get enough for 2-3 meals from it. A total winner. 

There's just something about the glaze on this pork 
roast recipe that really makes the meal. It's a pleasure 
to cook because it's minimal work, and it's a joy to 
eat. DH is addicted to it, as am I. 

I'm also looking at the calendar - we're running out of time very quickly and need to get things moving. Labor Day comes early this year. Ren Fest starts on August 16th and goes through the end of September. We'll miss the worst of the heat, but not necessarily - we've had some pretty toasty days at the State Fair in past years, although we've also had buckets of rain and even an occasional very early snow. Minnesota weather - if you don't like it, just close your eyes for 10 minutes and it will be different. At least that's the saying. But if we're closing by the end of October, things have to start moving faster. 

We were one of the largest Swarovski beads and pendants 
resellers in the Upper Midwest and we still have a BUNCH 
of product available. We're going to run a massive sale, but 
DH wants additional photos, so I'll be busy doing photos on 
Wednesday instead of working on getting artwork matted 
for resale. They're both urgent projects, and I just don't have 
enough hours in the day to get them done completely and as 
well as I want. 

DH apparently got little sleep last night. That's too bad. He's been having issues sleeping. I suspect a great deal of it is his mattress - it's ancient and should be replaced. He can't quite wrap his head around that, though. Maybe after waking up enough times with aches and pains, he'll get the message that the mattress is trying to send to him. 

So, on that note, I'm wrapping this up and heading to the shop. It's a Monday which means it's a day off for Chickie. That puts me solidly on the sales floor for the day, with minimal breaks for the bathroom and lunch. DH will be doing whatever DH is doing these days - something productive, I hope. Have an excellent start to your week and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Complaints - Just General Complaints, So Ignore If You Want To - LOL

Every time DH needs to work at the shop, he'll come home at night complaining about this thing that Chickie and I haven't done, or how we're not getting things done fast enough, or this, or that. DH is a ball of complaints. I wonder if he wasn't able to complain enough as a child/young adult, so he had to carry that desire for complaint into his adulthood. Whatever the cause, it's coming through in spades now. *sigh* I'm under strict orders to be at the shop no later than 7:30 am so that he can meet me there and we can weigh out some one-pound packs of bulk craft wire. Apparently Chickie and I don't work on the days when he's not there. Huh! Who knew? 

Sure - Chickie and I spend our days standing 
around and doing nothing. *sigh* Right. He's 
saying we'll never get out of business this 
way, and he's right. But the main millstone is 
HIS business inventory, and that's stuff he could 
(and should) have sold more than 15 years ago. 

I'll be there, of course, because I'm usually there at that general time. But really? Whatever. I agree that getting the wire sectioned and packed is very much a team effort, but it's also possible to weigh one package, then get the footage, and be able to do it by length instead of weight from that point on. It might take a bit longer, but it's very do-able. Still, according to DH, he's the only person who's working hard to get us out of business, and ... oh ... what about that Swarovski sale? 

This Swarovski sale will concentrate on the three most 
popular bead shapes - bicones, rounds and cubes. They're 
always our best sellers, and there's a TON of inventory 
still remaining that I want to sell down. So even though I 
have a lot of other shapes/sizes, I chose these three to 
sell down over a six-day sale period. Now to finalize 
the prep work and get it onto the schedule. 

Oh, you mean the sale that I've got 85% ready to go? Well, that is something I can probably finalize today. I'm done with the basic inventory (which will NEVER truly be up-to-date since it's still an active product and we're still selling it almost daily). I've worked out a method for our customers to easily tell us what products they want, and for us to easily find what they're looking for. I even have the clear transparency sheets over at the shop waiting for me to put them into the copier for the master lists. So .. yeah. I think I'm almost ready to go with the next major sale. I have to say, however, Delica beads were a hell of a lot easier to put on sale than Swarovski crystals. *sigh* 

There are just some times when nothing expresses 
my feelings better than Yiddish. This is one of 
those times *sigh*. 

So I'll be at the shop no later than 7:30 am (which is normal for me in any case) and I'll help weigh and coil wire for an hour or two. It'll get one more thing off his to-do list and one more product out on the sales floor instead of moldering in the depths of the warehouse. Now, if we can just stop snipping at each other? Nah! Not going to happen. But I can swim first, so that's an excellent thing. Have a great Thursday, I'll be back tomorrow. And please, if you haven't voted for my story in the current batch, I'd very much appreciate your vote if you think the tale merits it. Slava Ukraini. 

Progress Is Slow But It's Getting There

I finally had a chance to return to my "Major Project" at the shop yesterday afternoon. I wrapped up everything that had been left for me to take care of, and actually had more than two hours to devote to continuing my Swarovski Crystals Master List. Without this list, doing any comprehensive sale of this product line would be impossible. With the list, we might have a chance of doing things reasonably and relatively easily. Relatively. I can't count on anything. But in my head, this will help things run MUCH smoother. It's a lot of work, though. 

My Master List has the Color Name in Column One, 
and the product number for each size I carry that color 
in (and have stock available) moving across the page. 
So far I've done the 3mm, 4mm, and 5mm sizes, and I'm 
in the midst of the 6mm size. Of ONE shape! I haven't 
tackled how best to set this up for the other major shapes, 
and I'll need s totally different sheet for the specialty 
shapes. It's a HUGE department. 

Today is my "day off", and I'm doing grocery shopping and making "Ogre Juice" for the upcoming week's lunches. I was reminded again of how important my green sludge has become in my life when I didn't have the time to eat lunch on Monday. When DH asked me if he should bring up my alkagizer, I was hip deep in working with a customer, and really couldn't take the time for lunch. So I said "No, I'll have to wait for a bit". Well, he never bothered to ask again, even though I would have had time within that hour. So I never had the chance to eat. It's rather typical of DH, whom I'm quite sure was sitting at his desk playing "Bridge" on his phone. GRRRR. Inconsiderate. But, I got no lunch on Monday, and carried that over until Tuesday and it took a few days to get back on schedule, and my body immediately noticed the lack of Monday's "juice". 

When I don't have my four alkagizers every week, I really 
can tell. My body requires them, and it functions so much 
better when I'm eating/drinking them regularly, no fewer 
than four a week. 

Today, being Friday, will be a short kitchen day. I need to make my alkagizers for the upcoming week, but I don't need to make any meals, and I think I'm also OK on my breakfast fruit - although I'll make sure to check that too. The crops seem to be growing well, the Robin's nest is still intact and Robin Mama is guarding it fiercely. The weather is just about perfect - I'm liking summer thus far. But I'm also looking at a pile of papers on my desk that I desperately need to cull through, and bills to pay. So it won't all be sunshine and rainbows. I'll actually have to accomplish some things as well. *sigh* LOL (Honestly, I'd go a bit crazy if I didn't do SOMETHING for the house or whatever every day.) But I'm going to wrap this up with a minimum of drama and I'll be back tomorrow. Have an excellent day, Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל. 

Positive Thoughts - I'm Trying to Focus on Those

Short and sweet today because I'm running a little late. It's a swimming day, else I wouldn't have a deadline, but the gym doors unlock precisely at 5:00 am and I want to be in the pool very shortly afterward. I'm not thrilled with the book I'm listening to just now, but I want to get through it to start the next volume in the series. I think it's more a matter of not liking the supplementary characters very much that's making it a harder listen. Still, it's a long series, and one little blip won't stop me from listening to all of them in sequence. I don't recall how many books there are total, but I still have quite a few more in the list. 

There are a LOT of colors of Swarovski 
crystals. These are the available colors of the 
4mm round size. I carry rounds in this size, 
as well as smaller and larger. That's not counting 
the bicone, square and specialty shapes. I have 
a LOT of Swarovski inventory and I'm trying 
to get this efficient so that we can actually 
sell it "easily" during a clearance sale. 

I was pretty busy with customers yesterday, so didn't get anything done on my Swarovski Sale project. I'm pushing that sale up to end of April, maybe even end of May. There's just so much prep work to be done. The methodology of how I'll need to run the sale is coming clear - or at least a bit clearer - but the actual nuts and bolts of organization are all on me. When I'm dealing with customers, quarterly taxes, and the general maintenance stuff to keep the store going, I don't have a lot of time to devote to specials like our Swarovski Sale. Still, it will happen. Just not on my timeline (obviously). 

I love my morning meditation time. I'm a bit crunched 
for time on my swimming days, but it's worth it. 
There's just something about sitting and meditating 
first thing every morning that just starts my day out 
on an excellent note. 

Meditation this morning was delightful, however, so that makes up for lack of sleep. I ended up getting to bed almost a half-hour late last night because I had to fight with the federal taxes website to get my monthly withholding tax paid and the receipt printed out. Still, I got it done. Then, this morning, I realized I hadn't plugged my phone in for charging, so I only had about 20% for my morning meditation exercises. Oops! I actually had to plug in for most of them, meaning the sounds were not pulling in through headphones. It's the single disadvantage I can find with my Google phone - the power and the headphones connect through the same portal, so to use headphones, I can't be charging the phone. Still, it's a minor inconvenience, and it's happily up to almost 50% already, despite having been used for my morning routines. 

Have a simply glorious day. It's one more day on this 
fabulous earth, and one more day to enjoy the wind, 
the weather, the clouds, the sounds of the birds, etc. Make 
it one of the best days of your life. 

So, I'm off to the pool. I hope all of you have a splendid Tuesday, I know I have every intention of having one on my end. I'll be back tomorrow and wish you a glorious day. Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל.

Upgrading Concerns and Looming Deadlines Are My Life Right Now

My main computer at home is getting more and more quirky and stubborn. It's still running Windows 7, an operating program that has been completely discontinued and isn't supported any more. When I last spoke to my computer Guru, he said I should just upgrade the operating system to a higher version. That there wouldn't be any problem with my hardware. But, like many of us, I'm reluctant to change something that works - something that I know I don't have to think about. 

My main concern with upgrading from Win 7 to 
Win 10 is that I'll lose my Adobe Photoshop 
program. I know this program in my bones, and I use 
it every day. I have the newer version on my laptop, 
and I'm not very fond of it. I'd probably prefer to buy 
the full version, not use the "lite" version like I have 
on my laptop, but ... Adobe Photoshop has changed 
a lot since the version I'm running on my main 
computer. 

However ... I might have to think seriously about doing that. I might message my Guru today. I know he said there wouldn't be any problem with the hardware aspect, but I want to double-check. I rely on my main computer at home for everything! If it goes "kaput" my life suddenly screeches to a halt. I can't just jump over the cliff blindly, I have to know I'll survive the plunge. 

There's no safety net for us. To close the shop, we 
need to jump off the cliff blindly. I'm never very 
happy when I have to do that, and DH is even more 
reluctant. But we're determined to close this year. 
So, we're working really hard to get there. 

I spent yesterday working on the computer trying to get the 4mm Swarovski bicone file together, while DH worked downstairs in the warehouse cleaning, cleaning and cleaning. He must have taken at least 20 trips out to the garbage bin and the recycling bin. He was ripping up cardboard boxes and he actually even swept the floor. The main section of the basement is looking really good now, but there's still work to be done. He wants to get it to the point where he can have a potential buyer of his old aircraft supplies come down, look, bid and (hopefully) take away that part of the old inventory. 

I love Swarovski crystals, but I don't love 
more than $100,000 worth of them. I really 
need to get these sold, and selling them little 
bit by little bit will take me several 
lifetimes. 

As I said, I worked on the 4mm bicone section of our Swarovski inventory, trying to get files in order to put that old stock out for sale. I worked on that all day, and I'm still not quite done with that size, but I'm close. After I get that size done and ready for print-out, I'll start on the 5mm bicones. The 4mm is the largest section and the most popular size, everything else will be far less time intensive. 

As in yesterday's photo, there are a lot of specialty 
shapes too, and we have many of them. I need 
to get those sold also, but they'll be among 
the final lists I'll be putting together. 

I also need to make sure that I don't just don the standard shapes (bicones, cubes and rounds) but that I also include the specialty shapes we carry - teardrop pendants, faceted ovals, top-drilled bicones, etc. I actually really want an up-to-date listing of what I have in stock, so this won't be a problem to do, but it does take some time. But we're progressing ... not necessarily fast enough for an October close, but we're still shooting for that. 

On that note, I hear the swimming pool calling my name. Have an excellent Tuesday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Chili, Photographs and Super Bowl - I Won't Have a Boring Weekend

My chili turned out pretty good, although still not as spicy as I want. I'll have to look into spicier peppers than jalapeno for future batches, but the ground pork was an excellent idea and I'm going to enjoy bowls of it for my meals for a week or so without any difficulty. I might leave the Harissa spice out of the next batch, it might have muted the flavor a bit, but true chili always takes a day to settle into its' flavor profile, so tonight's bowl should be very tasty indeed - LOL. I'm doing ribs in the crock pot for Super Bowl Sunday. Minimal work, maximum impact. 

I have 76 colors of 8mm Swarovski cubes available. 
I got all of the photos taken and uploaded yesterday, 
but barely had the time to start working on the detail 
work (enlarging and labeling each color). After I get 
the rest of them "massaged", I'll need to figure 
out how to make a montage of the smaller photos 
into a larger panel. I'm working within the dimensions 
Etsy gives for their product photos, and I'm using two 
different Adobe Photoshop programs to get this 
done. I feel like I'm jumping through hoops - lots 
of them - LOL. 

I spent the rest of the day photographing Swarovski crystal cubes. It's a job - I have a lot of different colors available, and I need each one identified, sized appropriately, and put into a photo file. Now to figure out how to make a photo montage for them - I want to present them in a splash screen, with ordering possibilities in varied quantities per color. I have a HUGE amount of inventory money tied up in my Swarovski crystals, and the 8mm cubes are the worst category. I need to get the inventory down and the sales up, so I'm hoping adding them to my Etsy pages will help. Today, after I'm finished working with the individual pictures, I'll try to explore how to put the smaller photos together into a larger montage. 

Madison Chock and Evan Bates are one of three teams 
representing the USA in Ice Dancing at the 2022 
Winter Olympics. I'm always happy to watch some of 
the ice dancing. I love it more than the singles, because 
it was so much fun to skate that format. It's a lot 
harder and more technical than most people 
realize. 

While I write this I'm busy listening/watching the "Rhythm Dance" programs in Ice Dancing. When I was ice skating, I practiced to be an ice dancer - I never wanted to be a singles performer, but loved dancing with a partner. Since I never was able to spin well (balance issues), I had to leave that dream behind me, but I still love the sport. DH hates "ice bite" except for the top singles skaters, so it's a pleasure for me to be able to see the dancers today. I'm not seeing the top performers, at least not yet, but it's fun to see some of the less prominent couples - Germany, Finland and right now, the pair from Ukraine (who have to be horribly nervous about what's happening in their country right now). 

Two days ago Nick Baumgartner was in tears, feeling as 
though he had let his family down by not winning a 
medal in Snowcross. Then Lindsey Jacomellis asked 
him to be her partner in the Mixed Doubles Snowcross 
and they both boarded to their maximum, coming 
up with the Gold Medal win. Well done, both of them. 
Nick, at age 40, became the oldest Winter Olympian 
to win a medal, and not just a medal, a Gold medal. 

Tomorrow is a busy TV day. We'll watch the Olympics until the stations flip over to Super Bowl coverage, when we'll shift our mind set to football instead of snow and ice. Since the Super Bowl will be shown on network as well as Peacock, I'll be shelving the Olympics for the day. I'm looking forward to the game, though, and since I have an online friend from Cleveland, I'll cheer for the Browns. 

It's been a long road to the SuperBowl for both 
teams, but this should be a fun game. Both of my 
teams were out of the picture early, and the usual 
suspects - Green Bay and Kansas City - both lost 
in their playoff games. So we ended up with an 
unusual pair for tomorrow's final game of the 
season - the LA Rams vs the Cleveland Browns. 

So I'm wrapping this up and I'm going to enjoy watching more of the ice dancing. I hope you have a wonderful weekend and if you're watching the Super Bowl, I hope your team wins (as I said, I really don't have a horse in this race, so either team is OK with me ... Go Cleveland! - LOL). I'll be back on Monday.