Etsy, Framing and Cooking - It's a Wednesday, So It's a Busy Day

Yesterday was crickets at the shop. The weather was beautiful, and I guess people just didn't want to think about indoor activities, so we had minimal sales. It allowed me to get a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff done, but not everything I needed. One of the things we wanted to do was pull all of the African trade beads from our Etsy listings. I tried at the shop with the laptop, but since the laptop doesn't talk with Etsy on my shop name, only my personal name, I gave up and quickly did it this morning before starting this post. I didn't have a lot of trade beads still listed, but we'd rather have them at the shop for final sale instead of on-line. Etsy, as an experiment, has been OK, but nothing spectacular. 

These are NOT the trade beads I had listed, but I've had 
this type in the shop. DH had quite a while there where he 
was a bit crazy about them, and bought them whenever he 
saw them. We had African traders coming in to the shop 
to unload their vans and show us some truly marvelous 
things. They're gorgeous, they're antique, and they're 
copied these days, so buyers do need to be careful. 

I awakened about an hour early before my 3:00 am alarm, and decided I might just as well be relaxed and not in a rush today, so I took time for an extra long meditation, got the first load of laundry started, pulled those items off the Etsy listing, and got a few other things managed. I'm right on time for my daily blog, and ahead of the game in other aspects. Hopefully I can get some framing done today. I have two prints that need their mats cut and fit into their frames. I can't cut the glass until I'm at the shop, but I can do everything else, so they'll be almost complete by the end of today if I can get this done. 

I've got two pieces that I need to get into their frames. I've 
got the mats (at least for one of them, I do), so I just need 
to make sure I set aside an hour or two to get them cut and 
fitted. 

It's also a cooking day and I need Ogre Juice. I've pretty much given up on getting any time for lunch at the shop - it's not that we don't have the time, it's that DH NEVER thinks about me getting any time off the sales floor for my lunch. He never forgets Chickie's lunch - will even come to the sales floor to remind her that it's time for her meal. He just never thinks about me. So, I started eating my Ogre Juice with my breakfast (since I find if I don't eat it, I really feel that lack). That's been working out quite well, so I might just stick to that schedule. As I recall, when I first started WildFit so many years ago, it was two alkagizers a day (although I might be mistaken about that). My body most definitely is happier if I have one a day for most days - at least four a week. 

I find when I don't have my alkagizers, I simply don't feel 
on my game. I don't have one every day, but I do have 
them four days a week. When I first started the WildFit 
program, it was a minimum of one alkagizer a day, sometimes 
more. I've learned how to make them pretty tasty over 
the years - LOL. 

So, I'll take a quick run across the street from the YMCA to pick up vegetables at my local store before returning home today. It's so convenient, and even though they're not 24/7 any more, they open at 6:00 am and I'm usually not out of the gym until 6:15 am or so. It works out very well. So, have an excellent day and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Etsy and Travis - My Stress Boils Over *sigh*

I got a notification from Etsy about a sale yesterday, so I went on with my home computer last night. (Apparently the only way I can access my Etsy sales is through my desktop, not my laptop.) Anyway, the order was for a strand of antique beads that I had sold a few months ago - and it was marked SOLD. So I attempted to contact the purchaser and let them know that it was unavailable and that we did have two other strands that might interest her, but I couldn't contact her. *sigh* I suspect it was a feeler order in any case, not a real person, but it was frustrating to not be able to actually get in touch with her. But I also can't sell what's owned by someone else already, so it's simply not happening. 

Etsy usually isn't a problem, but I have no 
idea how this person was able to even place 
an order for the item she did. It was sold 
several months ago, and it's marked as "Sold" 
on the website. Weird. 

The business sale is moving along and I'm starting to become really frightened about how this is all going to happen and come through. It's just the three of us (and only two on Mondays and Wednesdays), and I'm not at all sure how well this is going to happen. Will we actually be able to sell to the bare walls? That's my goal, and I have absolutely NO idea if that's going to happen. I've spent a BUNCH of money with my RetailSalesPro guy, and I'm counting on him to bring the people through the door. But we're still just three people on the sales floor and if the people flood in, we're sunk. We want and need sales, but I don't need "After Christmas Sale" panic in our customers. I think closing the business is more stressful than treating my cancer was. 

I'm putting my faith in Travis - someone I've 
never met, and may never meet. I've paid 
him a LOT of $, and followed his instructions to 
the letter. We're getting as ready to clear things 
out as possible, and it's absolutely frightening. 
It's really all on us - Chickie, DH and I - to make 
this sale work and clear things out. ARGH!

So swimming today will be a relief. I need to work out some of this stress. It's a good thing that I lost my hair years ago, I'd be tearing it out (or it would be falling out on its' own) from the stress. Have a wonderful Tuesday and I'm off to the swimming pool. Slava Ukraini. 

Good Intentions Meet Reality - LOL

I had every intention of being on the treadmill this morning, but my thigh muscle is still bothering me, so I'll give it until Friday, swim my usual Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday, and give myself this one additional day to recover and heal. It's a LOT better, but I think that being on the treadmill might set me back in my healing. Friday gives me a few more days to heal, and my swimming exercises my muscles quite differently than the treadmill does. 

I always have my hands on the side bars when I'm 
using my treadmill. I'm also fast-walking, not 
actually running. I'm not allowed to have that much 
impact on my crappy bones, but getting some is 
actually a good thing, so we thread the needle for 
what's good and what's too much. 

I wanted to re-do the master for a reporting sheet that we use daily at the shop, so I brought a copy home to reproduce. I was certain that I had a type-font ruler here. But, I was mistaken. So, I'm taking the form back to the shop with me, and I'll have to see what I can do off the cuff on my laptop instead. I had a clean master copy of the form that we used for years, but it's disappeared *sigh*. It's not the end of the world to reproduce the form, but it's a lot harder to do without the font-size ruler at hand. If I can find one that doesn't cost a lot, I might buy it on Wednesday. 

I used to have a typefont ruler. The fact that I can't find 
it isn't a surprise - I haven't needed it for many years. 
But ... I need it now. So, I'll end up buying a new one 
because it's rather essential for what it does. 

I made one of our favorite dinners last night - a request from DH who wanted my pork loin. It's easy enough to do, although I do have to be careful when basting the roast in the last hour of cooking - the glaze that I baste with is sugar based, and if that falls onto the oven door, it can be a total PITA to get scrubbed off. So I always use a sheet of foil that I pull under the baking pan when I'm applying the glaze every 10 minutes during the final stages of the roast. The one time I didn't do that took a LONG time to get the drippings cleaned off my oven door and base. I learned quickly. LOL

I love making my braised pork loin recipe. It's 
easy - it starts out in the crock pot for several 
hours and then finishes in the oven where the 
glaze is applied. It cleans up quickly, it tastes 
fabulous, it's a total winner. 

So, not a lot else to discuss. I'll be pulling our trade beads off our Etsy sales offerings at DH's request. He wants to have them available back in the store again, and I'm absolutely fine with that. We'll leave the Swarovski crystals up for the time being, but eventually we will pull those listings also. 

So, not much else to chat about today. I hope all of you have a wonderful Monday and I'll be back tomorrow - hopefully with a bit more to say on my way to the swimming pool. Slava Ukraini. 

Things Are Progressing, Snow and a Busy Day

I was able to get the Etsy order downloaded on my home computer, but wasn't able to do it on my laptop at all.  Very frustrating, and an unfortunate delay for my customer. I'll be emailing them today to update them and the order will go out on Thursday. Late. GRRRR. I might just do whatever I can at home today in hopes of dropping it by the post office later this afternoon. 

For some reason I couldn't access that order 
on my laptop at all. But, I was able to grab 
it from my older computer at home. Now to 
get that sent out with apologies! 

It's an early start for me today. We got snow starting just as I was pulling in to the driveway last night. I don't think we got a lot, but I need to get the driveway shoveled before heading to the pool, so I can't chat a lot this morning. 

We didn't get a lot of snow last night, but I still need to get 
the driveway cleared off. Hopefully the streets won't be 
too icy. 

Travis sent me the mockup of our postcard that will be sent to 15,000 people in the Twin Cities area. I actually like it quite a bit. It's very eye-catching, bright, brilliant, and very busy. There were a few small changes we requested which will be put into the final, but I'm happy. I was smiling all day thinking about it. At least some things are working correctly. 

It won't take long to get the driveway shoveled, but I'll 
have to get that done before taking the trash and recycling 
bins down to the end of the driveway. 

Of course, one thing works and another doesn't. He wasn't able to get access to one thing that I had sent to him - an important thing. So, I sent him the link once again, and made sure he had all of the permissions required for him to access the material. Hopefully he was able to do that yesterday afternoon - or someone on his team was able to. I'm sure I'll hear from him if access is still restricted. 

With only one day off a week now, I'm SO busy on that 
single day. Oy! 

And ... today is a "day off". Load 1 of 3 is already in the washing machine, and I need to figure out what I want/need to cook today. I don't have my Sundays any more - they've been spent at the shop getting things ready to go. I'll be VERY relieved when all of this is over. I have no idea if I'll make any money on it, but really, it's impossible to actually lose money on this. So, with that said, I'm plugging in pictures and heading to the driveway, snow shovel in hand. Have a great Wednesday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

I'm Very Upset with ETSY Right Now *sigh*

I'm in the middle of fighting with Etsy. It's frustrating. I got a notification that I have an order to fulfill and ship, and I'd love to do exactly that. But, I can't escape from my personal account (I had been looking at a couple of things I might want to purchase for myself early last week). It won't even acknowledge that I have a business account, and, of course, there are no human beings to talk to in "Customer Service" (a total misnomer, if there ever was one). Do any of you have any ideas for me? I'm trying to get logged into my business account, but it's sending me to my personal account every time. *GRRRRRR*

Most people are just purchasing from Etsy. I'm 
both selling and purchasing from two different 
accounts, and it's not letting me switch from my 
personal account to my business account so that 
I can fulfill the order that was placed. GRRRR. 

On the Travis end, I managed to get everything finished on Sunday. It was supposed to be in his hands yesterday, and I uploaded everything, double and triple checked everything, linked the photos to the page and gave him permission to view the photos, and everything should be working well. The store has never looked cleaner, but we're already messing things up because we are an active entity - we actually do sell things, order products and interact with customers. What a concept! LOL

It's a good picture of Travis, isn't it? I'm quite 
sure he looks nothing like this now, but it's 
possible. In any case, it's to his advantage to get 
every dollar out of the store that he can because 
his fee is based on our sales numbers. When we 
do better, he does better. 

Things are in his ballpark now, however. He needs to review the items we'll have available for sale - things OTHER than product, in other words. He's working with the big things - the display cases, furniture, and equipment. I think I ended up with almost 90 items on that list, a good portion of it being various types and ages of metal shelving from the warehouse area. We have a LOT of metal shelving. Some of it is quite old - inherited from his father when we bought the business. His Dad opened his business in 1954, and it's quite likely that some of the shelving dates from that time period. 

We have a LOT of industrial shelving that spans almost 50 
years. It nowhere close to this neat or uniform, but it all 
serves the same purpose - displaying product. We have a bunch 
on our main floor holding our product, and a very large 
bunch in the basement for warehouse storage. I'd estimate 
we have at least 40 shelving units, although it certainly 
could be up to 20 more than that. 

But there's still a LOT to do. And we're actually still buying some product - we're out of a few very specific things that we really do need to have on hand. So, we'll be placing an order with one of our suppliers within a day or two to get back to normal on things that we're sold out of. After all, black beads are essential, and we're actually sold out of black beads in size 11 right now. 

Black seed beads are getting quite low on stock, and 
it's something we know we can sell - no matter what. 
It's an important color, and we really can't sell out of 
it until the last minute, so we're actually ordering 
some more. *sigh*

On that note, I'm heading to the swimming pool. I'm just a bunch of tense nerves, and the treadmill is helpful, but the water and a good audio book can work wonders. Have an excellent Tuesday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

It's Friday - A Very Busy "Day Off"

Yippee! It's Friday. I have the "day off" with a list of things to do that's as long as my arm, but I'm not in the shop, so that's a total win. I will be bouncing from one part of the city to another, though. Between everything, I also need to locate a specific bag that's holding my higher-priced Etsy items. I sold a strand of trade beads yesterday, and want to get that sale finalized and shipped off tomorrow. So I need to find the bag. I have a pretty good idea of exactly where it is, but didn't get a chance to chase it down this morning. 

I had an Etsy order for some Swarovski crystals that 
I sent out yesterday, and got this order through my 
email in the afternoon. The trade beads of this style 
are called "Mali Wedding Beads" because they've 
been used by people of the Mali tribe for ceremonial 
use for decades. It's a very pretty strand and a good 
price. If everything goes smoothly, I'll have them 
in the mail to the purchaser tomorrow morning. 

I also need to pay the 2nd payment of my annual property taxes on the house today. *sigh* That's never a bill I welcome - it's a lot of money, but you can't fight City Hall, or the State Legislature. It's got to be done. The value of the house and property has been increasing since we purchased it in the mid-1980's, and (of course) property taxes keep increasing annually as well. Death and taxes - the only two sure things in the world. LOL

There's actually a video game called "Death and 
Taxes". Who knew? LOL I should look into that one. 

I used my new headphones while on the treadmill this morning. They work OK, I'll certainly manage to live with them even if they're not the brand I prefer. I had an online friend wonder how I could plug headphones into my phone. Well, I use a small dongle (honestly, the words we've invented for our computer age - dongle - LOL). The dongle has the proper connector for the phone on one side and the proper connection for the headphones on the other, and it's about 2-3 inches long (I'm too lazy to go and measure it). Without the dongle, I wouldn't be able to use the headphones with my phone at all, of course. 

Of course, you can't connect a phone directly to a set of 
earbuds, but with this dongle, which is sold on Amazon 
and lots of other places, it's easy. It's a minimal piece 
of essential equipment. 

So, it's going to be a busy day off today. The normal things like making my next batch of "Ogre Juice" as well as a few other errands will fill much of it. It'll be a nice day, though, with temps peaking at about 80F. I can certainly enjoy that last rush of summer. Maybe I'll get a chance to do a bit of gardening and get my massive crop of Habanero peppers harvested and into the dehydrator. It's a goal, right? LOL Have an excellent day and I'll be back to wrap up the week tomorrow. 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. 

It's My "Day Off" and an Unexpected Meeting With a Friend

Today, Jake should be coming around to fix one part on my treadmill and he'll also show me how to lubricate the belt (and maybe do it for me this time - LOL). I'm pleased that I can piggy-back onto his visit with the belt lubrication. If we had actually managed to link up earlier, I would have had to rely on video instructions for that process, and they're not very clear. 

I love my treadmill, but I want it to be 100% correct, 
properly lubed and without a part coming loose. So, 
Jake and I will finally be able to mesh our schedules 
today and I'll get my treadmill back up to 100%. 

I made an executive decision that we will close the store at 2:00 pm on Saturday the 24th, instead of 3:00 pm which was what DH wanted. I want to go to the "Ceremony of Life" for my oldest nephew a bit earlier than he had planned. I'd like to spend some time with the family and not feel rushed at all, but be able to circulate and spend some time with these people. I only get to see them at holidays, and those times are always a bit of a zoo. This might not be an exception - all those kids do tend to "liven things up" a bit - LOL. 

There is nothing like the sparkle of a Swarovski crystal 
bead, and we still have a HUGE amount of them since we 
were one of the largest sellers of that type of bead in 
the five-state area. I only have the cube shape listed on 
Etsy, and I've been getting some nice sales through that 
lately. Yippee! 

I had a large Etsy order yesterday afternoon, so I was kept busy. But I got it all done, invoiced, packed and shipped. One more thing done, and more Swarovski crystals out my door. Whoot! I know my prices on these are insanely low, and I should probably raise them, but it doesn't make sense to me to do that. I'm making what I need to and getting product I rarely sell out of my door and into the hands of crafters who will use them. That's a win for me. 

I'm not really sure why I started calling the desk 
monitors "Gate Gargoyles", except they are the people 
who unlock the doors in the morning and let all of us 
into the YMCA. I've known some really wonderful 
Gate Gargoyles in my years of attendance, many of 
whom I still run into now and again. Our current gate 
gargoyle is Sabrina - she's awesome! 

Yesterday I dropped by the grocery store to pick up my "birthday cupcake". My store gives you a cupcake of your choice from the case as a birthday gift. I haven't taken advantage of it for several years - their cupcakes are anything BUT sugar, dairy and gluten free - LOL. But I decided I would walk on the wild side and allow myself the treat. While in line to check out, I heard a familiar voice call my name and felt myself getting hugged by the guy behind me in line. It was Brian! Brian used to be our "Gate Guardian" at the YMCA years ago (he was a sweet guy to have behind the door). Then he married Dave, they moved around the Twin Cities a bit, then moved to Atlanta, Ga. Then Brian was diagnosed with brain cancer, and after surgery and recovery, they decided to move back up here because the Mayo Clinic is so close and he can get his treatment there from the best doctors in the nation. It was absolutely wonderful to see him again, and he looked great! Hopefully we'll run into one another again when we both have a bit more time to catch up. 

As a "Rewards Member" at my local grocery store, 
I was issued a certificate for a free cupcake of my 
choice (there is a time frame in which this coupon 
can be used). I had skipped it the past few years, 
but decided to indulge this year. It was wonderful 
and very delicious, and I can easily set it aside again 
for another year. Back to my usual food choices - 
NO sugar, NO dairy and NO gluten - LOL. 

So, I'm off to the pool. Have an excellent Wednesday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

I Have to Shovel, Cooking and Etsy (and Other Things)

We got a little bit of snow overnight, which means building shoveling into my morning. Thus, when I awakened at 2:00 am, I wasn't inclined to go back to sleep for the final hour. Instead, I turned on my lights, did my meditation, and am starting my day with a little bit of room to breathe, So, it's 3:20 am, my first load of laundry is in the washer, I'm scheduling my day in my head (a LOT to do, and I forgot one thing at the shop, so I'll have to pop over there to collect it on my way to the co-op this morning). After the co-op, then on to the regular grocery store. On the way home, get the car washed (I have an annual pass for the car wash - I love it - it's new, quite close to the grocer so VERY convenient, and they do a great job). Finally home to do some cooking, and I'll work on Xmas cards for the rest of the day. I can do holiday shopping on Friday. 

We got a light dusting of snow overnight, so I'd like 
to get out and shovel the driveway and the walk before 
I leave for the gym. If we keep a handle on it, we won't 
have a driveway of solid ice. I hate it when we have 
ruts in the ice to get into the driveway, and I want my 
newspaper guy safe when he runs up to put the paper 
at the front steps (I bribe him well to do that, plus 
he's a really nice guy). 

I've received cards from Tinnean (thank you my dear, it's awesome as always. Since you injured yourself, I wasn't expecting one from you this year *hugs), and Shirebound. Shirebound's lovely card is on one side of Shruti's magnificent card, with a card from a high school friend - Pam - on the other side. It's early days yet, though. I'm focused on getting my cards out into the mail ASAP. I'm running really late this year and apologize to each and every one of you. Time has NOT been my friend. 

I am running late with my holiday cards this 
year. I apologize in advance. I'll have them out 
within a few days, but for me ... well, I'm late! 

I also have to cook today, or at least figure out what I'm going to make on Friday (more likely). I'm thinking a nice batch of stuffed peppers for Friday. That sounds lovely right now. I have to finish up last week's soup first, though, and tonight is chicken night, so I don't really have to worry about a "cook" until Friday this week. 

I love making stuffed peppers over the colder months. 
They cook up fairly quickly, are easy for portion 
control, and taste EVER so good! One of my absolute 
favorite Fall/Winter meals. 

I had two Etsy sales that I pushed out the door yesterday. At least one of them was a good amount, making the time spent worthwhile. I've actually got Etsy down, but they keep changing their interface, and I can't find everything I need to alter anything on my posting. I'll have to find a bit of time next week on the laptop to push a lot of buttons and find how to edit things on my product pages. It used to be easy, but now everything is buried under a new something - I don't even know what to click on to access my pages for editing. *sigh* Still, I printed out the monthly sales reports and was a bit surprised to realize that I'd sold something off Etsy almost every month this year. 

Etsy certainly isn't a barn-burner for sales for us, but 
it is moving product that sells quite slowly in the 
store, so every sale is a plus. It gets a little convoluted 
regarding our sales books, but that's DH's problem. 
I did print him out the monthly summaries for this year, 
so that might help at year-end. Maybe - LOL. 

I'm dressed for the pool, and grateful that I'm not part of LJ Idol any more - at least as far as writing goes. I really don't have the time to devote and they only deserve my best efforts. Hell, if I didn't do my blog at 3:30 am, it wouldn't happen at all because the time simply wouldn't be there. The story of my life - living a full life in bits and pieces - LOL. Have an excellent Wednesday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

ETSY and the Bowels of Retail Hell - Welcome To My World

I'm fairly certain that this will be my final "call out to vote" on LJ Idol this session. It's a write-off between me and another very talented author, and I'm simply in too deeply. No real time. I'll put the link for voting here, and I'd love to get more than the two votes I had already received as of this morning, but I'm not holding out a lot of hope on this one. My opponent wrote a lovely piece and, so that's how it can be and probably will be. Nonetheless, if you're up to voting for me, the link to vote is right here. Read my opponent's piece also, though. It's excellent. Here's the link: https://www.dreamwidth.org/poll/?id=32317

I have my write-off story up on LJ Idol (link is above 
in the paragraph). If you're so inclined after reading the 
two entries to place your vote for me, I'd REALLY 
appreciate it. If not, that's OK too. This is a really hard 
time of the year for me to take the time to write something 
excellent. And I've had a total BLAST participating 
in this challenge with so many talented people. 

Today I start out with swimming, then a quick breakfast, and then on to the shop. I have two mail orders to finalize so that I can mail them today. I'm stumbling over what Etsy is charging people for Priority Mail, my computer screen decided that I didn't need that information *sigh* and we were BUSY towards the end of the day, so I couldn't finalize the orders the way I usually would. Crap! Sometimes having product on Etsy is a total PITA. Every time I have one, I go onto their website and they've changed a BUNCH of things, making me re-learn stuff just to process the sale. ARGH! 

There are times when I really hate Etsy. I don't mind 
selling down product on it, but their format is becoming 
harder and harder for me to navigate easily. 

It's a "day off" today - a joke because days off are not in my wheelhouse. Today I need to make a soup for the next few days of dinners, and I also need to make my Ogre Juice - something I can usually reserve for my Fridays except I had my last one yesterday. Still, if possible, I'm going to try and take my Friday off and get it done then. I work on Sunday, so I can't really squeeze it in then, and that's too many days away from "Ogre Juice" anyway. I'll have to check my calendar quite carefully when I'm at the shop and make sure I also have Friday off this week. 

I might have to purchase this book and add 
it to my book list to read. I'm sure there's a 
lot in these pages that I would be able 
to associate with. 

So, from the bowels of retail hell, I'm striding out to drown those flames in the swimming pool. I think I really need a serious exercise session because my life right now is insane! Have an excellent Wednesday and please vote, if you're so inclined. I appreciate all of the support I've had from all of you over these past few months of LJ Idol. It's meant the world to me! Slava Ukraini. 

Etsy, Retail Sales Pro and Hockey - Somewhere There Must Be a Balance

I got an Etsy order late last night, so I'll be starting my day out today getting it ready to ship. I don't get a lot of orders, but they're always a pleasant surprise to get. Because it is a weekend, shipping may be slightly delayed, but I usually try to have things sent out no later than 48 hours after the order was received. I'll go onto Etsy when I set up the laptop at the shop and let the customer know that the latest it will ship will be Monday morning. 

I don't get a lot of sales on Etsy, but I always love it 
when I sell a strand of Trade Beads. These antique 
beads are highly treasured and getting quite rare. The 
strand of White Cross beads I sold yesterday are 
heading to Oklahoma when I get the paperwork completed. 

I started yesterday out by doing several errands that had been stacking up. Primary of these was to start taking our burnt-out 8-foot fluorescent bulbs to Batteries Plus for recycling. I grabbed my first set of 10 and brought them over, along with the two kitchen light bulbs I had just changed earlier in the week. Success! It was an easy drop-off, the price I had been quoted was accurate, and I can start with the bulbs on the main floor next week. I don't like to get into time crunches on days that I work, so I'll be adding bulb recycling to my Wednesday and Friday schedules until they're completely gone. 

It's not difficult to get the bulbs from the shop to the Batteries 
Plus store, it's just a bit slow because I can only carry a 
maximum of four of the long 8-foot bulbs at a time. I try 
to take 10 at a time for recycling - it's a comfortable number to 
keep under control in Minnion. 

Tomorrow is the "Big Talk" between DH and me regarding Travis and what he and his company can do for our closing sale. I'm still working through the e-copy of his book, and I hope I can answer DH's questions as they arise, but at least I can (possibly) look up the answers on my laptop if necessary. I did store it in my Dropbox account, so it's possible that he could also download it for reference, but according to Travis' website, I also have a hard copy in the mail. DH finds hard copy to be more convenient, so I'm hoping it arrives soon. I refuse to spend paper and ink printing out several hundred pages, although in a pinch, I could do that (or print selected pages, if necessary). 

I still want to schedule a phone call 
with Travis where both DH and I can 
be on the phone with him at the same 
time. That's a bit easier said than done, 
but I'm hoping for next week. 

I did make a start on cleaning off one of my collection surfaces in the shop. I think we all have them. Chickie uses the floor level where she stands (which drives me crazy), I use the top of our print drawers which is behind where I stand when I'm processing product, and DH has the rest of the store and all of the back room, which he has cleaned, but it's still cluttered - no real way to avoid the clutter right now. 

I'm actually not fond of real, live pack rats, but this 
pack rat puppet is rather adorable - LOL. 

So, I'm curious. Are you a "pack rat", or do you regularly go through your things and cull, tossing out or donating things you no longer use or want. I must admit to pack rat tendencies, although I can cull and toss when pushed to it. I have varied interests and skills, but most of them revolve around working with glass in a variety of formats, and with metals - mainly copper and silver. Of course, my glass ranges from the multitude of beads in all sizes and shapes that I use, on through the decorative plates of glass that I use in my kiln for fusing. I'm looking forward to getting back to some of that work again in the future. Metal, of course, is used in conjunction with the beads and rarely on its' own. 

Perhaps I should have stuck with writing - it seems to require a much smaller amount of materials - LOL. Have an excellent Saturday and Go Wild - there's a game tonight, so I'm wearing my Kaprizov jersey that a friend was so kind as to give to me. *hugs* Have a great weekend and Slava Ukraini. 

I'm Always Busy and it Caught Up with Me

I was exhausted yesterday, no real reason, just really tired. Since it was a day off, I turned off my phone and took a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. I feel MUCH better today - that extra two hours really has made a difference. I usually manage with 5-1/2 to 6 hours of sleep a night, six days a week. This week, however, seemed a bit different and I was dragging. 

I've been making my "Ogre Juice" (aka Alkagizer) 
for almost two years now. I'm pretty comfortable 
with it. I choose fresh veggies that appeal to me and 
augment with pre-cut salad mixes. It cuts down on 
prep time and I can usually have a batch completely 
made and into containers within an hour or so now. 

I did get some things done, however. I made my next batch of Ogre Juice. The four portions will take me through until the end of next week, when I will make my next four. I also put a small order in to Amazon - enough items to get my free shipping without having to be a Prime member, but not much over that. I usually run an ongoing Amazon cart, releasing items when I decide I need them and playing with the items and amounts until I can get my shipping at no charge. I'm never in a rush to get anything, so I don't mind waiting a week or so to get my items. 

I order from Amazon a lot, but refuse to pay for 
shipping. So I carefully fill my cart until it 
qualifies for free shipping, then I'll release the 
order. I refuse to pay for Prime membership 
either. No ... just no. LOL

I also went to Target yesterday. I needed a couple of items that I can't get anywhere else, and I came home with the blue plastic hangers I had on my list. It's not like I don't have a bunch of plastic hangers, but these are slightly narrower, and I'm shifting DH's shirts onto them because his closet is too full. He won't ever get rid of a shirt until it's in tatters (and even those can become "gardening" shirts unless I sneak them into the trash bin). He's like me - he's gone through several sizes in his life. I'm pretty sure he has at least three different sizes of shirts in the closet, as well as both long and short sleeved ones (seasonally dependent, of course). 

I've been shifting DH's shirts over to this style 
of hanger (blue instead of the seafoam color). 
It's slightly narrower than the plastic hangers 
we currently use, and I like them quite a lot. 
They're only $3 for 18 hangers, so it's not an 
outrageous cost either. 

I got caught up with some computer work as well, so it wasn't a totally lazy day. I have a small Etsy order to fulfill (if I still have the product available - that's always dependent upon in-store sales, not just Etsy sales). I'll check quantities this morning, and if I have everything, I'll get this shipped out to her on Monday morning on my way in to work. 

I don't get a lot of sales on Etsy, but I do get 
them every now and again. I still need to 
finish massaging the photos for the rounds and 
get those uploaded, but I've been pulled away 
for other work and don't know when I'll get 
to finish them up. 

So, that's about all that's going on right now. Rather boring, all things considered. I need to spend the day at the shop in the basement framing studio shrink-wrapping artwork so that they can be sold.  I also need to find two sheets of foam core that are extra-large - at least 40" wide. I have two dyptychs that need shrink wrapping, and they're too large for my standard 32x40 sized foam core boards. At least I won't be bored at the shop today - LOL. Have an excellent weekend and I'll be back on Monday. Slava Ukraini. 

Writing - I'm Sinking That Ship and Trying Again

I wrote about 500 words on the prompt yesterday and I'm probably going to trash it today. I think I'll shift focus and completely change my track. I had some fun researching things for my first foray into the prompt, but it just didn't float well. So I'll sink that ship and try again with a new one. Hopefully this next try won't be a rerun of Titanic - steaming ahead boldly, looking beautiful, and shot down by the unexpected, never to rise again. 

I'm going a bit larger than usual with my photo because 
there's so much detail in the text. It's probably still 
really hard to read, but I hope you can grasp the timeline 
if you have it up on your own screen. 

I'll head to my tailor this afternoon to pick up the two tops and two skirts I left with her last week. That will give me some wearable clothing for Renaissance Festival, so I'll feel much better about attending Fest this year. 

I bought a KobraTech 10" Ring Light 
a month or so ago. It comes with a tall and 
a small tripod, a remote control shutter 
release, and various brackets to accommodate 
my cell phone as well as an iPad or tablet. 
I'm hoping the ring light will be the perfect 
thing for the round and bicone crystal 
photographs. 

I'll also try to spend some time with my ring light this afternoon, trying to get the bluetooth connection established between the control and my phone for photographs. I don't think I'll be quite ready to start the photos for the round crystals today, but I might be able to begin those next week. I might, however, be able to format the grid sheets for the other sizes of round Swarovski crystals. That will get me one more step ahead. 

I'm not exactly sure who's teaching today's 
cooking class, but I have taken several 
courses from Chef Jason Nesbitt, and when I 
was having some food issue problems earlier 
this year, he was one of the people who 
reached out to me with possible solutions. 

Fridays are always a bit crazy, and today won't be an exception. In addition to everything else on my agenda, I have a live cooking class with WildFit at 11:00 am. I really like the cooking classes. I'm learning a lot, and I've gotten some nice recipes too. I think today is only an hour, maybe a bit less, and I love watching them live when I can. The recordings are always available to us afterward, though, so if I miss something, or come in late, I can catch up later. 

One of my favorite Minion pics to share with you 
today. I'm always learning new things - I think that's 
one thing that helps keep me young. 

That's all for today. It seems like I have quite enough on my agenda to keep me busy - LOL. Have an excellent Friday and I'll be back tomorrow to wrap the week up. It's hard to believe that we're already almost finished with June! The summer is just rushing by! Slava Ukraini.