SOMETIMES OUR MODERN "CONVENIENCES" AREN'T CONVENIENT AT ALL!

My computer locked me out yesterday morning, just one more example of me and my issues with modern technology. I had a post all ready to load up, but it disappeared into the ether and I had no additional time to spare. Today is almost as bad, but on the back end. I'm working on about three hours of sleep, maybe four hours at a stretch. DH kept me up an additional two hours last night while we were dealing with a customer service rep regarding his website, and I finally gave up. Apparently he got a couple of hours of sleep, then got up again and worked through a bunch of things. 

Of course, I'm usually up by the time indicated on the 
bedside clock here - LOL. Still, I'm running on fumes 
today. 

Our issue? It's actually a pretty simple one. We renewed our SSL certification a month or two ago, but it was never changed by our website host. We contacted them yesterday and worked with a lovely lady to get everything figured out. Because DH can't hear, I opted to chat with her via keypad on his phone - not my favorite way of dealing with customer support, but effective. Eventually she found two large lines of code that needed to be plugged into our SSL certificate to make it valid through June of 2026 (the date we had extended it to a couple of months ago). 

I don't know why everything to do with DH's website 
is difficult. Renewing an SSL certificate should be a 
breeze, and it's turned into a tornadic nightmare. 

Of course, that code was total random BS letters and numbers, and I lost the connection with my customer service rep shortly afterward. I was exhausted, and unable to pull the texted phone conversation back up on DH's phone (he uses a Samsung, I use a Google - they operate very differently). I went to bed, and he went upstairs, but kept fiddling with his phone. 

Customer service and I had been texting back and forth for 
almost 30 minutes when this happened and I couldn't bring 
back the conversation. She had just sent me two very long 
lengths of code that needed to be put into our website to tell 
it that we were good for another year. I gave up at that point and 
went to bed. Better to get four hours of sleep than to waste 
my time any more. 

When I got up this morning to run on the treadmill, DH said he had found the entire conversation and the codes and was going to do something or other with it today at the shop. So ... OK. I moved to the treadmill, which suddenly was asking me questions instead of bringing me straight to my treadmill options. GRRRRR I knew I needed to re-up for another year this coming week, but I couldn't get anywhere in finding out who to contact. I'll dig down through that later today, and/or call my sales rep and friend Elizabeth and get some phone numbers from her. Actually, I think Treo Wellness has a Coon Rapids office that I've contacted in the past. If so, I'll try to reach them to update my payment information and, hopefully, have virtual by Monday. If not, I'll skip my Monday run and work on things while I'm swimming for my three days in the pool. 

I've been pretty happy with Treo Wellness on my treadmill. 
For me, I can zen out a lot easier if I'm looking at 
scenery and pretty things than a clock. Right? LOL

Sometimes our modern "conveniences" just aren't convenient at all! *sigh* Have a great weekend and I'll be back on Monday. Slava Ukraini. 

Dumpster Diving, MRI's and UBER (Fail)

Yesterday was a really busy and somewhat crazy day. DH went "dumpster diving" at the shop - something totally unexpected but necessary. We used to buy framestock (picture frame styles) from a local company and they were no longer in business. DH is busy cleaning up the framing room (which seriously needs a deep clean) and he tossed all of the frame corner samples that we had - well over 100 of them. Most of them I'd never use for our style of artwork, but ... well. I did a bit of internet research on Monday night and found out that our local company had actually been purchased by a different local company. So they were still in business, but under a different name. *sigh* 

DH set up a small two-step stepstool on the side of the 
dumpster and leaned WAY into it to recover frame samples 
he had tossed in there yesterday. Fortunately the dumpster 
was relatively unfilled. All four of the stores use it regularly. 

There were some frame styles that got tossed that we actually would seriously consider for some of our artwork. If we send pieces to auction, they sell much better if they are framed and ready to hang. So, after informing DH that our firm hadn't disappeared, I set to work setting up a new account with the new firm, and DH took a step ladder and headed out to dumpster dive. I think we rescued 25-30 styles of frames that we thought would be good for our styles of artwork. We probably didn't recover all of the ones that would have been best, but we have a good selection. I expect it will be up to a week before I hear back from the new owners about setting up an account with them. I'm hopeful that will go quickly because we really need to get things moving on the artwork front. 

When I speak of picture frame samples, I'm talking about 
what's called "corners" in the industry. These can be 
removed from their display walls and put against a piece 
of artwork to get a better idea of what the finished piece would 
look like with that frame on it. I had purchased a LOT of 
samples from our local supplier, and DH was cleaning up 
that space. Now that we know our supplier actually is still 
in business under a different name, we wanted to retrieve the 
samples we felt would be most useful for our artworks. 

Yesterday was also hot and sticky. I started my day out with a checkup at my cancer center and got high grades with that. They were concerned that I was five pounds less than when they had last weighed me, but I assured them that I was perfectly fine with the weight they had recorded. LOL Initially I was going to be scheduled for another MRI soon, but my cancer Doc has decided to push that one off. So I'll have my usual mammogram towards the end of this year, and I'll do an MRI in the early part of next year. No problem for me. I'm not a big fan of MRI's. Not because they're horrid, but because it's a long time staying immobile with my sternum resting on unyielding metal. It hurts by the time the session comes to an end. I don't mine pushing that appointment out a few more months - LOL. 

Being motionless for 30 minutes isn't horrid, but 
the hard metal upon which my sternum (and weight) 
rests really hurts after that length of time of 
immobility. I'm not fond of MRI's for my breasts, 
but totally understand the necessity. 

I had an elderly customer late in the day who was dropped off by an Uber driver. The driver was supposed to wait for her return, but apparently decided it wasn't worth the wait, and left. She then tried to get another Uber driver, who stated they were in front of the store when they were nowhere to be seen. It was hot, my customer's phone was dying, and she was in the process of trying for a third Uber. I asked where she lived, and it was fairly close by, so I checked with Chickie to see if one of us could take her home. Chickie said "Sure", so after she wrapped up her current sale, she pulled her car around the front and took our elder back home. I didn't need an elder collapsing from the heat, and Uber gets a huge FAIL in my books from this episode. At least we had a happy and grateful customer from all of the kerfluffle. 

UBER got a huge FAIL in my book for their treatment of 
our elderly customer. They kept saying they were at our 
location, but we looked and there was no car matching the 
model/description nor with an Uber sticker in the window. 
It was a total mess, so finally, we ended up taking our 
customer home in one of our cars instead. I'm not allowing 
an elder to be stranded, and she was almost fainting from the 
heat we had in the afternoon. 

So, I'm off to the pool. We were supposed to get storms, and we did have a big one whip through the cities last night, but it was quickly out of the Metro area. I think our outdoor pool will be open as usual today, although we are getting rain. If there's any thunder or lightning, we'll be swimming indoors instead of outside. Safety first when it's a body of water and possibly lightning. Have an excellent Wednesday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini! 

Yesterday Was a Day Spent On Hold - Sigh

Chickie is in New York, disappointed that she's not allowed to wear her new hat to the taping of :"The View". (I'm sure she'll survive the disappointment - LOL.) I, on the other hand, had the "lovely" opportunity of staying "On Hold" on my cell phone for over SIX HOURS yesterday to finally reach customer service and get a functional credit card terminal. OY! What a mishpocha! 

Normally, it's pretty darned simple to handle a credit card 
transaction. But there was a software update - a major one - and 
a LOT of us were unable to do CC transactions after the 
update. It was NOT a good thing! 

Apparently there had been a major upload of new software on Monday. I had some problem with the machine on Monday, had to ask people to go to the local ATM machines for cash. On Tuesday, I made sure I got to the shop early after my swim, and the machine still wasn't working. So I gathered all of my paperwork. They were doing a software download and I followed their instructions to get that done, Still no terminal. 

Even though I ended up on hold with Customer Service 
for almost sic-and-one-half hours, I really had to feel 
sorry for the Customer Service reps who, I'm sure, were 
getting yelled at, cursed at, and screamed at. I've worked 
Customer Service in my time and it's NOT easy. I had 
a lovely young lady when I finally got to speak to a human 
being. She ended by wishing that all of her customers 
were as kind as I was. I didn't feel especially kind, but 
why take a software glitch out on her? She was very 
helpful, and we seem to be up and operational once 
again. Maybe ... today will be the text for that - LOL. 

I tried and tried and tried. I was on hold on the land line for more than an hour, still no go. I had to get the store open, so I determined that I couldn't stay on the landline any longer. I left my place in the digital line, hung up, and phoned again on my cell phone. I got the store open, helped a few customers (holding my cellphone at ALL times and apologizing for how rude it was), but finally it worked. After more than SIX AND ONE-HALF HOURS, I was finally connected with a live person at Customer Service. 

You would think a large company like Chase would 
have their act together after a major sofrware upgrade. 
But no, they most certainly did NOT. 

Now, I've worked customer service in my time. You can get good ones, you can get bad ones. I had a rather delightful, frazzled young pregnant woman (yes, you can find out all sorts of things if you're just friendly on a long day of frustrated customers). By the end of our session, in which I went through the process of a test sale TWICE to make sure I would NEVER have to stay on hold for six-and-a-half hours again. But it finally worked. Poor people at Chase Payment Tech. Big company, big problem. If everything continues to work properly today, I'll breathe a big sigh of relief. 

It is my hope to live to write another day, and I'm probably, 
possibly, going to survive the vote this week. The poll 
closes on Thursday, so really, EVERY VOTE COUNTS. 
If you haven't voted for my tale (and you liked it), I'm 
asking for your vote. A single vote can make a big 
difference with this talented group of writers. 

It's looking like I'll survive to write again, but voting is still open until Thursday late afternoon, and a lot can happen in that time. If you haven't voted for my story, I'd really appreciate it if you did. It's getting tighter and tighter, and EVERY vote counts. I think this is the right link - https://www.dreamwidth.org/poll/?id=31921 - and I'm straddling the fence for being able to stay and write again, or being homebound and doomed to just read and vote from this point onward. Every vote counts and is appreciated. I'm off to the pool. I need to work out some of yesterday's stressful day. LOL Have an excellent Wednesday while I work (and Chickie plays in NYC ). I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Friday Was a Day Spent With Technical Services - *SIGH*

I'm getting off to a slow start today - no real reason for it, just lazy ... or maybe just tired. But I had an excellent night's sleep, not awakening until my alarm went off. Those days are rare. My alarm is scheduled for 3:00 am on swimming days, 4:00 am on non-swimming days. That's early for anyone. But this week I was waking up at 2:30 am or so, on my own, so I usually just gave up on sleep and took advantage of that extra half-hour. It felt absolutely luxurious to sleep until my alarm actually went off at 4:00 am today! I'm living in the lap of luxury - LOL. 

Oh, this is SO true - LOL. Although there are some luxury 
kitchens that I wouldn't mind living with. Still, I'm pretty 
happy just being in my own house. 

I spent more than three hours with technical services yesterday trying to get the issues with DH's website resolved and everything switched over to our preferred carrier. What a mess! Now I'm chasing down some number or other from the current carrier. Once I have that, I can contact our preferred people once again, with that number, and they can transfer everything over to a single system. 

DH had chosen Google Workspace and SquareSpace 
for his website and I chose Network Solutions as the 
best platform to help me build the actual site. Then 
Google and SquareSpace divorced and now nobody is 
talking to each other. So we've decided to move everything 
over to Network Solutions, pay them whatever we need 
to, and in the end, have a functional, live website. 

Our problem traces back to corporate takeovers that happen without taking the concerns of the customers into account. Google's website division was sold to SquareSpace, and the DNS numbers for one aren't the same for the other. Now, to make things easier for ourselves, we want everything switched over to Network Solutions - the place where we developed the actual website. If they have everything under one roof, it should be easy to get live. Until then, we're trying to get live and it isn't happening. So, despite very helpful and friendly people, we spent a lot of time just running around, but didn't accomplish a lot. Next week will be a bit of "rinse and repeat" as I try this once again. Maybe on Wednesday, more likely on Friday when I have more time to spend on it. 

Getting this website up and running is our own, personal 
Never-Ending Story. *sigh* I'll be happy when/if everything 
is under a single umbrella. Then getting things done 
shouldn't be an impossible dream. 

And, I forgot a pear. What? Yeah. I was making some roasted fruit yesterday - it's my usual breakfast. I had purchased eight pears and four plums, and I add other items like chopped nuts and maple syrup to the mix. I had everything in the big pot I use to mix the items up, poured them onto the large baking sheet and it was in the oven, when I moved the large pot to the sink area for cleaning and realized one pear got missed. It was a very full sheet pan, so I don't feel shorted. But I now have a single fresh pear on my kitchen counter. I might just eat that one raw - maybe on Sunday. 

So I have a single red pear on my kitchen 
counter, that should have been cut up and baked 
along with the other five. *sigh* I guess I'll 
cut it up and eat it raw ... or maybe I'll save it 
for a few days before I do that. I don't have 
to decide right away, it's in good shape. 

So, that was my "exciting" Friday. Not very exciting. Far too many hours spent on the phone with a variety of tech services people. *sigh* I hope my weekend will be a bit more fun. Have an excellent Saturday and Sunday and I'll be back Monday morning. Slava Ukraini. 

Running Late and It's COLD Outside

I'm running SUPER late today, only have about 15 minutes to get today's blog post typed, populated with pictures, and posted. Oh well, it's always good to write on the fly. It does make me have to pay a bit more attention to my typing and my grammar, so that corrections are kept minimal. 

There's nothing that increases time more than correcting 
spelling errors in a document. Although the errors are a 
lot easier to correct on an electronic document than on 
a paper one, it's always a PITA. 

It's COLD. Currently it's -7 F (-21.6 C for my friends overseas). We know how to bundle up here in the Frozen Northlands, but we would all admit that it's darned cold. I'm grateful for my heater at the shop. Suddenly, after all of these years, I'm actually comfortable seated at my desk and working in my general area. DH may sniff, but he's welcome to do so. It's MY heater and I'll be using it in numerous locations for many years to come. 

It's really quite a pretty bracelet, isn't it? Now, if 
I only have the beads for her to do this. I'll 
check when I get to the shop today. 

I'm trying to get the beads together for a mail order customer who wants beads to make this. It's really quite attractive and should be a fun piece for her to make. I'll have to check my boards for the beads, since I don't even have these on the website, but I have several hundred colors in this style, so I hopefully can come up with them for her. I also am expecting someone to bring in a necklace repair, although I suspect that she'll wait until the weather is a bit warmer before venturing out. 

It's the time of the year when everyone looks like they're 
20 pounds over their actual weight because of the 
bulky coats and added hats, scarves, gloves, and 
other warming gear we put on. Still, we're not stupid. 
We understand cold. 

So, I'm going to get some photos put into here and head out to the swimming pool. At least Minion will be warm (eventually) as I drive to the gym. It's got a pretty good heater and I'll just sit in the car until shortly before Ed unlocks the front doors for us. No hurry - the morning swim group for the 5:00 am spot is pretty much the same group of people every day and we all know which lane we prefer. Have an excellent Tuesday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Swim Suits, Cell Phones and Old Documents - A General Argh!

I'm wearing my skin suit for the pool today. I actually purchased it for use this summer when I'll be swimming outdoors, but decided to wear it to see how it feels. I've always worn standard bathing suits in the past, but since my dermatologist is rather adamant about my staying away from direct sun, I bought one of these for my outdoor swimming. It's rather fun, but I'm sure it will feel a bit different in the water. So, today is a test run. 

I didn't get this brand, I couldn't find 
a photo of the exact skin suit I purchased. 
But you get the idea. Full coverage, long 
sleeves and a front zip. There are several 
people at the pool who regularly swim in 
skin suits, so I won't be the only one. 

I also ordered several latex swimming caps. I don't have to wear a cap indoors, but outside, I don't want sunlight directly on my tattoo. I'm well aware that even as short an amount of time as ten minutes in direct sunlight can start to degrade a tattoo. I adore my tat, and have no intention of allowing it to degrade if at all possible. So, I'll wear hats, use my parasol, use scarves, for my outdoor excursions this summer, and now I'll add a swimming cap for my outdoor swims. I own a lot of silicone caps, but they don't seem to want to stay on my head. I'm trying some latex ones, hoping they'll stay on a bit better. 

I ordered four latex swim caps, yesterday. 
Two in blue and two in lime green. I'm hoping 
they'll stay on my head. I currently don't wear 
a cap at all because my silicone ones don't 
stay on, and I have no hair to worry about. 
But I want to protect my tattoo when I'm 
swimming outdoors in a few months. So I'm 
accumulating my stuff now. 

At least I got some sleep last night. I purposefully didn't go to sleep any earlier than my normal schedule, but was asleep quite quickly and slept until shortly before my alarm. I'm grateful for that - I was a bit of a mess yesterday with my minimal sleep on Sunday night. We weren't super busy at the store, but I was kept running most of the day. That was also a good thing, so I'm certainly not complaining. One of my last three customers ended up leaving her cell phone and pen at my cash stand. Of course, she's a new customer, so I had no way of contacting her. Hopefully she'll contact me today so that we can get it back to her quickly. 

One of my last three customers last night forgot her 
cell phone at the cash wrap. I've got it set aside for 
her, but she's a new customer and I have no idea how 
to contact her. Hopefully she'll give me a call 
today. I had put my card in with her beads in the 
shopping bag. 

So today is a swimming day - always a wonderful day - and I'll be sending some additional documents over to Etsy for my approval. Right now the listings are live, but I still can't accept any payments from customers. They want another couple of official documents. I can get one uploaded to them this morning, but need some information from the Secretary of State's office for the second question they have. It sure would have been easier if I had been a company founded within the past year instead of one that was founded in the late 1950's. *sigh* History isn't always a friend, especially when you're dealing with old documents. 

So, on that note, I'm off to the pool. I hope you have an excellent Tuesday and I'll be back tomorrow. As always, try to do a random act of kindness today, and pray for PEACE. 

It Was Fun To Be Open Again

Yesterday was a lovely day. We had one of our regular customers waiting at the door for us to open in the morning, and we were busy, but not overwhelmed, all day with almost everyone telling us how happy they were that we were open again and how much they had missed us. (The exception was two new customers - they can't have missed us, they had never visited before. But both of them bought and said they'd return again, so win-win.) 

It's rather fun being open for business once again. My customers
missed their bead "fix" and almost all of them expressed how
happy they were that we were open once again. Everyone
practiced Social Distancing and everyone wore masks. 

We were all wearing masks, and Chickie apparently spent some of her stay-at-home time with a borrowed sewing machine making some really nice masks. Both DH and I were allowed to choose from her selection and I sewed the attachment straps this morning - they're ready to go. 

Although these are not Chickie's masks, they are very similar
in style to what she made. She did a great job for not having
touched a sewing machine for years. I'm quite pleased
with the one she gave to me. 

I was on my feet a lot, but also sat quite a bit with my foot propped up on my scooter. That's a great height for my leg, so I may not be scooting around the store, but I'm using the scooter quite a lot. At the end of the day, we had a good shift with a lot of customers and good dollars in the till for the first time in seven weeks. I'm so grateful for all of those wonderful people who walked through our door telling us how nice it was that we were open. Hopefully we'll keep this on a roll. 

Here's hoping you have a great Tuesday, and I'll be back tomorrow. 

A New Week - A New Beginning

Yesterday DH and I spent several hours at the shop vacuuming, washing the floor, and replacing the "waiting" chair with one that is more easily sanitized. Today I'll be there early to wash the floor once more and vacuum the rug we keep right in front of the door (it catches the initial dirt that gets tracked in). DH spent the afternoon working on the second portable shield, which is in the back of Minion, ready to be taken to my area early in the morning. 

I was tossing and turning and just couldn't get any
sleep after about 1:00 am. So, I really ended up
with a bit less than four hours of sleep last night. 

I'm actually exhausted, but it's because I'm up - after only four hours of sleep. The sleep was great, but I couldn't manage to get back to sleep after awakening at 2:00 am. So, here it is, 5:00 am and I'm looking at finishing the blog and making some oatmeal. Maybe grabbing a catnap, although I doubt it. 

I've actually be fine with the Stay-at-Home order. DH has had a lot of
time to work in his garden, and I've been healing my broken ankle. But
now our unexpected vacation is coming to an end and we have to
be cautious with other people once again. 

It's been seven weeks since we've been open to the public. I sent out emails to our customers on our email list, and Chickie spent yesterday afternoon making colorful "Welcome Back" and "Thanks for Coming In" signs for the shop. I'm happy to be seeing people again, but a bit frightened at the same time. I haven't had to interact with people for a long time and except for a salesperson here or there, haven't really be among the public for a while either. I'll be wearing a mask - ABSOLUTELY - but gloves won't work well with the work that I do. It's hard to wear gloves while working with price tags and tape. 

I'm also a little worried about my leg and how it will hold up. I've got my scooter there, but I actually don't think I'm going to need it very much. I've been pretty comfortable with a single crutch, and even some short moves without any crutch at all over the past 48 hours or so. I may have wasted my money buying the scooter, but I'm not saying that's an absolute yet. It may come in very handy in other situations. 

Social Distancing can make a huge difference. We've marked
our flooring with "Stand Here" stickers and tape to encourage
our customers to use their heads and keep the distance, but
we're still dealing with a small store and aisles wide enough for
a wheelchair, but not much more. It might be hard, so we'll
limit the total customer count to no more than 6. 

So, I'm off and both anxious and a bit scared as I go. Now is the time when we might see a big jump in infection levels, and I'm also going to have to be a bit harsh on customer count and making sure everyone is wearing a mask. Those are mandatory things for us, so no choices here. I hope all of you are safe and have a great Monday, I'll be back tomorrow. 

My Day Off Will Be A Busy One

It's my "day off" and it's going to be a busy one, starting with a meeting with my Physical Therapist, progressing to getting the store ready for business, then on to a meeting with my local health insurance agent to make sure everything is in line for next year's insurance, before I can finally shop for groceries, then go home and clean house, put more things away, and finally collapse. Of course one of the high points of my day will be my weekly convo with Aearwen, but since that's late in my day, I have lots to do before I get to that point. 

Holiday cards are progressing, but I didn't get any work done on them on Monday or Tuesday due to time issues. I am working on the logistics of the cover image - how the pieces will fit together and be aligned correctly. There's nothing so bothersome as a 'slightly' crooked frontspiece and I'm trying to avoid that catastrophe. I think I know how this needs to go, but I'll have to do a trial run just to make sure I'm positioning each cut correctly. It's these kind of interesting problems that make me want to make cards every year. It's fun to figure out how to make them better and better.  

Yesterday morning, Mikaela came in for a few items and gave me
this Halloween apron she had stitched up for me. I adore it! It's my
apron for everyday now, and it's perfect! I have the BEST customers! 

Yesterday one of my favorite customers came in for a leather punch and a few beads. She handed me a gift she had made for me - just off the cuff. This wonderful All Hallows apron that she put together. I immediately pulled off my green one and replaced it with jack-o-lanterns and murderous photographs on fabric. It's fabulous! Later in the day I transferred everything over to the new apron. It's now my apron of choice. I tossed my old green apron - it was falling apart and past time for it to be replaced. 

I thought I had a photo of the first cap that Mikaela knit for me
on my hard drive, but I'm not finding it. Shame on me. I love this
one too, but the first one is in dark jewel-tone colors. I keep
it at the shop where it is often on my head. 

Last year Mikeala had knit me two different cloche caps while I was losing and after I had lost my hair. I keep one of those at the shop at all times - it's my favorite because I adore the colors. But both of them are pretty awesome. So, now she's got me dressed to the nines for Halloween and beyond. Sweet! I have the BEST customers. I tell people that time and time again, but I mean it sincerely. The BEST! 

The Halloween Blizzard of 1991 was memorable. It brought the Cities and
the state to a standstill, dumping 8.2 inches of snow overnight on
Halloween night. The storm didn't blow out until November 3rd. I
know I took at least one day off from work - simply couldn't get there
from here at all. By the time the storm left, we had 24.8 inches of snowfall
in the Cities in slightly over 48 hours. 

On that note, have a glorious Wednesday. We've been cold, cloudy and rainy (no snow yet, but if it gets much colder, we may see flakes). Of course, it is getting to the end of October and those of us living here in the Frozen Northlands remember the great Halloween Blizzard of 1991. I would rather NOT have a repeat, please. LOL I'll be back tomorrow, so have a wonderful day. 

Moving, Shredding, Packing and Helping - A Busy Saturday

MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU! 

Yesterday morning DH arrived to remove a four-drawer filing cabinet and a large wooden bookshelf. These were going to be taken home and put into new locations in our house. It was a serious CHORE in every sense of the word. By the time Chickie arrived for work, she wasn't allowed to put anything into her little cubbyhole because the space was already occupied by two file cabinets, full and empty file cabinet drawers, and lots of boxes. 

We have several four-drawer and a few
stacked two-drawer file cabinets at
the shop. We keep a lot of paperwork
in them - sales records, artist biographies,
and financial/tax records. We needed
a new empty one for home, so
consolidated so we could bring the
best one from the shop to the
house instead. 

We moved things from File Cabinet #1 to File Cabinet #2, shifted the location of #2 to where #1 had been, culled through the paperwork in the drawers to shred some, boxed financial stuff for the commercial shredding company we'll hire later this year, and boxed up a bunch for our own recycling bin at the shop (gets emptied late on Fridays, so I was able to grab some of the newly opened space late in the day). Generally, it was a mess - and it wrapped up DH and myself pretty tightly, so Chickie had the sales floor. 

I've been in business since the late 1980's, and DH's business
was originally his father's, so we have some records dating
back into the 1950's. All of that has to be culled through and
stacked into "throw out", "destroy on-site", or "pack for
commercial shredding". It's a serious chore. 

In the early afternoon, DH and I loaded the chosen file cabinet into his truck bed along with the four file cabinet drawers, the bookcase and the shelves. After securing the load, he was on his way and my life settled down enough for me to eat my oranges for lunch. Then we got busy - a group of bead knitters needing beads for a project they were all doing, a long-time customer who was seeking beads to help her through a difficult pregnancy, a new beader wanting beads to start a new project and practice a stitch she had recently learned, and others. We were flooded with people for a while - no rest at all. 

We have a large bin like this for garbage, shared by the four stores
in our little strip. We also have a large recycling bin and several
additional smaller recycling bins for our use. The garbage is
picked up every two days or so. The recycling only is picked
up once a week. We really need it more often. The bin is
usually filled by two-three days after pick-up. 

But, at the end of the day, as I brought the last of the recycling out to the newly emptied bin, I was pretty happy. It had been a good day - busy, but everyone had been respectful and helpful, interacting and offering suggestions. Even though we were stretched to make sure everyone was helped and got exactly what they needed, there were no frayed tempers and people were happy. That's what I want in my store - happy people. 

The four bead knitters we were helping were all going to knit this
"Celestarium" pattern that they had purchased from Ravelry. I'm
not sure they were changing the yarn colors, but the beads they
each ended up with will be lovely in it. Each of the women
had chosen very different colors of yarn, so each shawl will
be distinctly different. Fun! Want the pattern for
yourself? I've attached a link for you here. 

It's Saturday, and I have to get photos into the blog and head out to the gym. One more full week of exercise on the machines and then, finally, I can get back into the pool again. All of my fellow swimmers, male and female, have told me that they missed me in the water, and I absolutely miss it too. May 13th can't come soon enough - LOL. Enjoy your day and your weekend (Happy Cinco de Mayo!) and I'll be back on Monday! 

Celebrating Craft - Two Very Special People's Work

Saturday was a bit slow, but had unexpected wonderful events. In mid-afternoon, a long-time customer of mine, Michaela, (who gifted us with some fabulous baked goods for Christmas,) came in to the shop. It's not unexpected to see her, she comes by often and is a very talented crafter. After waiting until other customers were taken care of and sent on their way, she handed me a small bag. Inside, wrapped in colored tissue, was a wonderful multi-colored cloche that she knit for me. It'll keep me nice and warm while my hair grows back, and she chose the yarns specifically to work with the sweater I wear at the shop. It's fabulous! I have the BEST customers EVER! 

I love the colors of the knitted cloche, but really love
the fact that she made this for me just ... because. So
sweet! I'm really enjoying wearing it a lot! 

Coming home that night, DH and I spent time after dinner going through his vision of the craft room and the laundry room - both of which will require serious re-arranging and lots of construction. The end goal is to merge my shop workbench into my home space and that's going to need a more efficient space so that both DH and I have room for our own art and supplies. I was pretty OK with almost all of his plans - they're well thought out and should work really well. I promised to spend part of my Sunday going through several boxes of old books and a couple of boxes I had shipped to myself with the last of the things I rescued from my parent's place. 

Going through boxes like a good girl, can unveil treasures. Although most of what I shipped home from Mom's place were just the last-minute things that I had no room to put into the car, there also was a large mosaic bowl that she had made many years before. Mom was a talented artist in many different media, but among them was mosaic. I had no room for the matching table, and the mosaic portrait had been sold or trashed years before, but the bowl was one piece of her art I could take home. It's actually rather massive and heavy, and it's as beautiful today as it was when she first made it. I've put it next to my fireplace and I'm really happy to have it home and on display at last. 

This large wooden bowl with interior mosaic matched a
long mosaic table that Mom also made. I knew I had
no room for the table, so sold it along with most of her
other things. I rescued the bowl, though - one of the
few pieces of her art I have left. I love it. 

Add in football, Chinese food for dinner, and a surprisingly easygoing day on Sunday with only one small bump in the road, lets me call the weekend successful. We didn't lose our tempers at all, which was rather miraculous! 

Chickie closes on the new house today and helps her Mom move later today and all day tomorrow. Their first chore - buy and install new locks. I really hope this all works out for them, it's very exciting. 

Enjoy your Monday and I'll return tomorrow. Today is so packed with appointments before I open the shop, I won't even have time for a quick breakfast. Oh well, I have protein bars at the shop and lots of leftover Chinese for a very nice dinner. Have fun today! 

The Goal Was Catching Up, The Reality Wasn't

So crazy - that's what awaited me when I got back to the shop after just a few days off. My first task was washing all of the counters. I really hate it when I feel grit as I put things back into position. I still have to do a major floor sweep, but at least the counters look better. 

Customers were nicely spaced out, until mid-afternoon when we suddenly got a bunch of people at the same time. This is challenging for Chickie and I, but a real stretch for my Manager and I since he had to help people and his hearing is compromised. But we persevered, got everyone set up with their purchases, and got everyone back out before the next rainstorm hit. 

I sell sheet metal in copper, nickle silver and
red brass, as well as smaller sheets of
sterling silver. It's always hard to get to the
right thickness for restocking. The new system
is much easier, although it took hours to get
it designed and constructed. 

I sell sheet metal - three different base metals (nickle silver, red brass and copper) in gagues (thicknesses) from 16 (thickest) to 28 (thinnest). These are in storage in 6x36 sheets, and have always been really difficult to access easily for the purposes of restocking. We need to pull the 36" sheets and cut them down to 12" lengths before selling them, and it was always a PITA. Yesterday, my Manager got fed up with the old storage method that was really difficult to work with, so spent several hours making a new storage method that now keeps our overstock vertical instead of horizontal. It took him several hours of work to get this accomplished, but it's great. I'm very happy. 

I like this. We were busy getting the sheet metal
resolved yesterday, and we were also busy with
customers once we had managed to complete
that project. The timing was perfect! 

I spent the day in catch-up mode, though. I didn't get a lot of time to check my own projects out, but at least we had customers through the door, sales to make, and got a major storage system worked out and functional. All in all, it was a winning day. It'll take me a few more days to fall back into the groove and rhythm necessary for effective work, but I have confidence that I'll get there. At least my return to the water for my swim was wonderful. I expect that today's swim will also be. 

On that note, I'm hoping to get caught up with comments and your posts while at work today. At least that's the hope, if my computer cooperates. Have a great Tuesday and be kind. Sending *hugs* to all of you.