Relief

Sweet relief. I got so many things done yesterday that I am finally mostly stress free about the upcoming holidays and the guests they bring. I cleaned most of the house including the dreaded bathrooms. I finished tatting up snowflakes and got them glittered and finished. I cut, folded, and assembled countless pillow boxes to wrap all the presents in. Of course that part came with a slight X-Acto knife injury to the tip of my index finger that is currently making typing less than comfortable.

The best thing that happened yesterday was definitely the conclusion to the most recent missing package saga. The wonderful customer whose tracking erroneously said the package was delivered went to her local post office with the tracking info and was informed that the package was there, but opened. Seems it was likely a caught red handed postal employee moment. The good news is the inner wrapping was not disturbed and the custom made gift that it contains can now be given. This development reduced my stress level immensely and I am so glad for the customer as well.

They'll be just a bit more cleaning this morning before my brother and sister-in-law arrive and then I can sit down, visit, and maybe tat for pleasure. The rest of the week should be busy, but the good busy that comes from family gatherings, not shipping deadlines. 

Current & Final Etsy Shop Sale: 10% off with the code HOLIDAY10. Code is good through Dec. 27

Lost

There is definitely something to be said for deadlines or maybe I'm just the sort of person who needs them. I managed to stay on task much of the day. I did get distracted by shoe shopping again, but I finally settled on a nice light beige pair...at least I hope that's what color they turn out to be so they work for photos. I managed to get all but two pieces in queue made up when I got yet another 'lost package' message.

This holiday seasons aftermath has brought me at least three missing international packages. Luckily they have all been smaller pieces so replacing and refunding hasn't been all that painful, but they are making me seriously reconsider shipping outside the country. The option is to jack up the shipping costs to a more traceable method and pass those costs onto the customer. I suppose that might work out just fine when shipping really expensive things, but I certainly wouldn't want to pay $10 or $15 shipping on a $9 pendant. Yeah, I don't know what I'll end up doing. I'm probably just venting here to get it off my chest and won't change a thing, but it does make me wonder what larger companies do when shipments go missing. I ordered supplies from a smaller one and they were delivered elsewhere and the company just told me to go to the post office to track it down. Of course I didn't and they finally arrived about a month later. Is that standard practice, to just tell the customer, 'oh, well, not our fault' and move on. That just doesn't feel right to me even though it's not strictly my fault.

Anyway, I will finish up the stocking today and I've got a few ideas brewing in my head that just might burst free before I start the next round of stocking pieces. I want to get some of the masks listed as custom made up and ready to ship as well since Mardi Gras is just around the corner. Thought o be honest I don't sell all that many for this holiday. Maybe they're not glitzy enough for that, still better safe than sorry.