Good Morning

Well, I was right. Yesterday was pretty much a repeat of the day before except I had laundry to do as well as read. Oh, wait no I had a really interesting beginning to the day, and by interesting, I actually mean horrible. It started off with our smoke alarms going off for no good reason. No, not that annoying chirping, I mean that loud, all encompassing alarm noise that can only come from like eight hardwired alarms all sounding at once. We scrambled around the house disengaging them all because apparently that button does not shut them off. Anyway, that sort of set the tone for the day.

I did remember to take a picture, though I can't say it's terribly interesting. I spent part of my free time while reading tatting up another couple of sets of cat ears. I still have to sew them on headbands though. The rest of the time I knitted. I just finished the funnest section of the book yet and I have to say I am quite enjoying the roller coaster ride that is Jerusalem.

I also got the first frame in for the doily gifts and it looks like it's going to be perfect. I'm still trying to work out the best display method. The frame has a nice cork and cloth background so I'm going to trying pinning the doilies in first since that method is least likely to damage the doily should its' future owner want to take it out for any reason. I also thought about using a spray adhesive to stick it to the backing, but then it's mounted permanently and maybe I'm just afraid of permanently. I was hoping I might be able to sew it on, but that cork and cloth backing is sealed to the wood behind it, so that options is right out. I ordered up some short sequin pins and when they come it, I'll get to mounting. Until then it's more reading and knitting.

Lessons

Yesterday started out just fine. I was happy to be starting the very last week of school. I found out that my oldest child has been promoted an extra grade for next year. The temperatures have even been nice. Then I got to learn some things I was fine not knowing. I got to learn how much I take a working appliance for granted. I got to learn how quickly and thoroughly one can break, and that lesson came with a little extra physical pain and a greasy mess. Finally I learned how exactly expensive that appliance, a new garage door opener, can be with installation costs. Next up I get to learn how long I have to wait for the store people to call and schedule the installation. This week took a bad turn very quickly.

After all that homeowner drama, I did get some time to sit down and work on the custom order I got Sunday. Of course I didn't have as much time as I hoped, so I only managed to finish one of the two bracelets I need to make. I also found myself wishing the order was for a drastically higher amount to undo the painful credit card transaction that we underwent.

I should be able to finish the other awareness bracelet today, barring anymore teaching moments from the the Universe. Then I'll get back to the Armenian lace and tatting experiment. Here's hoping the week turns back to good sooner rather than later.

Sideways

You know how you expect a day to go one way and then it just goes sideways and there's nothing you can do to reign it in. Yep, that was yesterday. It started with an order right after I finished blogging with a piece I needed to make, so I hurriedly finished the mask that was on my needle and then got to work on some barefoot sandals. Not sideways enough for you?

It was a terribly windy day here, not hurricane strength or anything, but a good 30 mph with some serious gusts. This is significant because we have a long fence on one side with a post busted at the ground level that does not like the wind. We had actually called the people who handle the property next door about getting it fixed weeks ago since it's shared property with no response. Well yesterday afternoon, this happened. The thing blew back and forth like a loose tooth until it snapped.

I propped it up as best as I could hoping it would fall and crush all our wild flowers, called the property management to let them know the situation had worsened, then after the husband got home from work, this finally happened. Yep, seen from out bedroom window, that's four sections of fence on the ground. Wind came and blew it right down leaving nails sticking out and snapped wood slats. We called the property management back since we figured the renters/University students next door wouldn't. Now we cross out fingers that it gets taken care of quickly. Small favor that it did fall down on their side leaving our flowers uncrushed...for now. I have a feeling they'll be destroyed when the fence is repaired.

Still not sideways enough? At the same time I'm trying to desperately stop picture A from becoming picture B I'm fielding messages regarding a large order I mentioned briefly maybe a week ago. I actually assumed that they had changed their minds so I wasn't expecting it at all. I had also initially assumed it would be a dozen pieces or so since that seems to be the generally size of an order of this kind. When, after some back and forth, it finally went through, it was about 40 pieces and my free time is officially cancelled for the next week or two at least. While some of the pieces are already made, most are not. Luckily they are mostly smaller pieces, no masks, large chokers or ankle corsets, but 40 is still a pretty big number for me.

So I started the morning assuming a nice meandering day before all the routine breaking tasks of the week and instead I got handed many more things to do and I didn't even tell you the story of the rebelling printer. Certainly half of my story is a happy one. Even if unexpected, a large order is a good, good thing. Now if it just hadn't been balanced by the fence and the printer, I would have called it a win. As it stands, it was a crazy, crazy, sideways day and I don't even need to tell you what I'll be doing today.

Damn Elusive Thread

Such a failed attempt to find the metallic thread I am running out of. I don't remember when or where I bought it and of course the label disappeared years ago. It's made up of two plys and each ply has what appears to be a black cotton thread wrapped with a silver filament making it about twice as thick as heavy duty sewing thread and it's on a beige colored locking spool. I searched high and low and nothing, so much nothing. Sure I found lots of beautiful metallic thread that all looked too thin or not remotely the same construction or color. I've used it a lot on my fancy masks and these new doily pieces, but it will be gone with just another project. I can live with not finding the same thread again if I can find a suitable replacement that serves the same purpose, mainly the same thickness and the dual tone. I know, good luck right?

In other non news, I got a lovely custom color order yesterday that I worked on much of the day and what time was left I devoted to working on snowflakes. I did start another doily hairpiece, this time in purple for it was requested.  I've got a couple of other things to remake today and then the day is devoted to the cleaning of the house in anticipation of tomorrow's meal. Yeah, I'm not looking forward to the rest of today, but one can't stop the march of time, so march I must.

As you likely guessed it was another boring day in tat land. The rush mask order did appear though, so that was the tatting task I engaged in as soon as it arrived. Before it did though, I opted to craft a bit with the vacationing children. my brother, the former photography instructor, had given us some empty film tins. We used the contents of one Michael's grab bag full of scrap booking stuff to cover then since I don't scrap book.

I figured they could be jewelry or keepsake boxes for the kids. Beside playing with Modge Podge is fun and eats away at least an hour that would have been spent watching TV. Sure, they didn't turn out great and I made the mistake of using a paint soiled drop sheet that transferred it's colors to the tins, but hey, the kids had fun and it cost me nothing but time.

I also thought I'd use this tatting free day to share a few other things that have been going on round these parts. Right behind the houses across the street from us is a creek and a bike path. This is wonderful for walks and it attracts a wealth of wildlife right to us. We're currently raising tadpoles as they morph into little frogs and our house, just yesterday, began to host grasshoppers all over it's exterior. Not in a creepy, swarming, locust way, but there were still dozens.

The last bit I wanted to share is about the Cliff Swallows. Just a couple of weeks ago, large quantities of the birds began swarming our neighborhood. When I use the word 'swarm' here I am not being overly dramatic. There have been clouds of them that easily reached triple digits. I took this video of them on the back of our house almost a week ago and it is tame compared to what we've seen everyday since then. They are now building mud nests on dozens of houses in the neighborhood. Personally I enjoy them, but the poop is a factor and we'll see how the summer goes I guess.

I do still have that mask to finish up today and hopefully I won't melt in the heat. I might get around to the grab bag for a new piece or I might craft with the kids again. Then again I might just sprawl on the couch and lament the heat. Really, it could go either way. I hope you enjoyed this diversion from the usual today. I just figured it would be more entertaining that babbling.

Drip

Holy ceiling batman...wait, that should be holey ceiling. Indeed, we woke up Sunday morning to the ceiling of our bedroom dripping water. Now we knew there was a leak somewhere in the roof above us, but it never seemed to make it all the way through the drywall and we could never find the source in the attic. This was all before we experienced this most recent rain storm, set to continue for the next entire week mind you. Sigh. Anyway, we are lucky to have a contractor friend who walked us through the best way to deal with this at 6:30 in the morning. Then I had the pleasure of climbing into the attic repeatably throughout the day to empty the bowl catching water from the now painfully obvious leak in the roof. This behavior will have to continue until the sky stops falling long enough that the source of the leak on the two story, tile roof can be located and fixed. Sound fun right? Yeah, I'm all sore from all the climbing and crawling this morning, but at least I do in fact have a roof over my head, so complaint over.

Do you remember recently I mentioned a large order request which I replied to with a rather large shipping quote and rather long completion time estimate? Well, I thought I had scared them off, but apparently it was just that they had 'thought' they had responded and it didn't go through. So I spent much of Sunday evening sussing out the details on that. I am still waiting for further correspondence as the last thing I had to debate was she intended to pay for everything when they are ready to ship and I think that won't work for me. I figure I should at least get some payment up front on an order that is likely to take me at least a month to complete. I keep thinking about spending all that time working on it only to have her change her mind because I took too long or something. Anyway, I think I didn't get a response only because it was really late in her time zone and she likely got off the computer, so hopefully we'll get that all worked out today so I can get to work on the single largest order I've ever had...or not.

One last thing this morning. On Saturday while the kids were with Grandma, we went out to eat, a rare occurrence, and on the way back, we stopped at Michael's. I had sold all the 'For Japan' medallions and I felt like I could sell more, if I had the bits to make more. So I dug through the clearance bins and came out with a few more dragon charms. I went ahead and re listed the medallion as soon as I got home. I haven't yet sold any more, but now I can sell as many as there are people who want one to help donate. I sent all the money I had already raised to the Red Cross on Saturday morning after the fourth had sold and I hold I get to do that again.

So today, it's working on the beginning bits of the large order, just in case everything works out. They are pieces I make often so if it doesn't work out, I'm just ahead of the curve stocking the shop and I'll move on to remaking some other pieces. Of course if things do get worked out for the large order, you may have to say goodbye to my creativity for  spell, but I think we'll all live.

I Would Rather Be Tatting

It was a long day...a long, hot day. It began with and hour and a half walking tour of an air museum. This would have normally been lovely in October, but it seems that October has morphed into some other crazy summer month that left us walking on asphalt in increasingly warming sun. It was still nice I suppose with the picnic at the end, but there you have the whole of the morning.

Afternoon started with the children taking a nice nap when I managed to finish yet another mask and get most of the way through a necklace. The whole time I was dreading the evening though and it was fast approaching. I was also crushed to learn that one of my twitter friends had a very tragic day. Before I had left for the field trip she had tweeted that her husband had collapsed and was with paramedics. I thought about her all day and by this point in the afternoon I learned that he had died. We aren't close, but she is a wonderful and wacky personality and young. I am crushed for her and I wish her anything she needs to get through this and I hugged my husband tight when he got home.

Then I went into the belly of the beast. My mother is moving and I have been little help, but I was asked to go into her old apartment and help finish packing. I hate moving myself and last evening with do nothing to reverse that feeling. I spent hours there and feel like nothing was accomplished. I must point out now that I myself am a bit of a pack rat. I got this trait from my mother who I fear has developed into more of a hoarder and that is all the description I'm going to give. Hopefully the move is a fresh start, because I am so not doing this again.

Today should theoretically be back to routine, schooling and tatting. I've caught up with all the orders so it's just remaking at this point. I'll get that necklace finished this morning and maybe onto another mask. I think this shall be a 'whichever way the wind blows' sort of day.

Dainty Daisy

How did I do all this last year? I am running on empty over here trying to get all the things done in a day that need doing and three days out I already miss my summer vacation. The morning is spent with the kids doing school, once that's done it's laundry, dishes, housework then somehow it's already lunch time. Then I've only got the afternoon left to write up the Wunderkammer, work on orders, tat and there's still dinner to worry about and more cleaning, oh and lest we forget all the random errands and whatnot that intrude on my time. Just three days of this and I am spent. I suppose I'll get back into the rhythm of it and I'll be fine, but right now I'm a mess.

So given all that whining up there you might be shocked to learn that I did in fact get something new done and listed. I'm calling it the dainty daisy. It's the smaller of the two daisy motifs that I use in all those Grand Daisy pieces. This time I added smaller crystals and used smaller thread and made up three of them for a necklace and earring set. I felt they needed something a little more to hang them from than just a picot so I also strung some sterling silver beads and another crystal onto a pin to hang the daisy from. I think it makes the piece look a bit more finished and well, fancy.

Don't expect anything interesting tomorrow though as I am scheduled to do the floors today. By that I mean that I am vacuuming, carpet cleaning and scrubbing all the tile as well. The children will be off while I accomplish this feat and I am crossing my fingers that the cats have all their fur balls out of their systems and keep any that remain in until after Saturdays house anniversary party. We've been calling it a house warming, but anniversary is more appropriate. In fact yesterday marked one year since we became home owners. I am never doing that again...we're living here until the end of time barring sudden millionaire status of course. While I have no real desire for this day to begin I haven't the power to stop it, so I'm off to it then. Wish me sanity.

Golden

I had another one of 'those' days fraught with ant incursions, various cat messes to undo and an unpleasant desire to clean and fix things I ought to have left alone. Sure I started the day off well enough, got one sepia edition piece remade and listed then went onto get photos of the newest necklace. Once listed it was surprisingly well received. I thought perhaps I'd gone a little crazy with the chains and was going to receive the 'that's um...nice', but it seems folks liked the dramatic draping, go figure.

This however is where the day began to go south. Well that's not entirely true, I actually woke to a two front ant invasion, but one thing I could handle, it's the piling on of things that drives me batty. While cleaning up one mess I was confronted with a destroyed looking kids room, so I cleaned that. Then I felt compelled to finish hanging pictures. The day went on like that well into the evening discovering another cat mess, cleaning, fixing, etc. Each time I sat down I was again beckoned to another minor disaster. Remember when I said I 'liked' staying home', well some days not so much.

I worked a bit more of the scarf, but not enough to show you, thought about getting a Sepia edition boutonniere made, but never even started, unless you count getting out a gold label pin to work on. I'm also dealing with the aftermath of the worst sales month in some time, I made half of what I did last July which given my advertising efforts makes my doubly sad and so far this month shows no sign of improving. Since August is usually a very dry month I don't actually expect it to either, so I need to shift into production mode mentally and physically for the impending holidays and try to ignore it. Now if only the ants and cats and kids would get on board with the plan, we'd be golden.

News From The Front

They came at me from several fronts and each time I stopped them I was given only a brief respite before they again advanced from another location. Back and forth we battled throughout the day and though I closed my eyes to a victory I knew they would only be back in the morning. I am of course speaking of the ants in my walls. They burst forth from cracks on both floors of the house, from the pantry, the bathroom, the loft, bedrooms and back and forth to new undiscovered cracks wearing on my already fragile sanity and all of this madness started at dawn in the pantry. I am usually a very insect friendly person, we scoot spiders outside, catch other insects as pets, but I have no love for invading armies of ants. I'm certain I will finish typing here and find them already starting in on another room so the war will continue shortly.

In tatting news what little there is of it given my six legged distractions, I did indeed start the redesign on my throat corset. I had already worked on a modified version of it for the spiked color that I just now realize I never did list as I was waiting on a photographer friend...guess I have an email to send. Anyway, I didn't make too many changes to it, but when I made the matching gauntlets here, I added split rings between the weaved sections. That is what I'm going to do for the new throat corset. It has the same feel, but more open. I modified the split chain counts a bit and I think it's set to be the right finished length, but with a piece this long, I won't know for a while especially if the ants don't lay low.

As far as retiring designs, I decided, as no one else had any opinions to share, that I would simply make those decisions as they came up for renewal on etsy. The important thing is that I've accepted that some need to rest for a spell and I'm hoping the ones I pick won't be missed. It has been a frustratingly slow sales month so I hope these moves invigorate the shop a bit. My ad in Coilhouse is out though I've not gotten my copy yet, so I haven't seen it. I have gotten one sale from that enterprise, but otherwise no indication that it has helped. I signed up for 4 issues anyway, all that repetition is key business. I keep reminding myself that it is summer and generally not a hoping month for retail, but did I mention the cat with the new thyroid condition and pills for life and periodic blood tests. Deep breath, don't mind me, rambling again from stress. If the ants stay back, I'll get some creative tatting release from the stress, so join me in cursing the ants back from whence they came.

Take My Picture

We're sick, the entire female lot of us...in my house anyway. We've sore throats and there's coughing and the children are whiny. So forgive me, if I'm not chipper this dark and dreary morning.

The weekend was filled with more housework and I finally pulled all the boxes of figurines out and began the task of finding them new homes. I saw figurines, but the bulk of them are my useless collection of dragons...yeah, I like dragons. Surprised? Yeah, didn't think so. Many of them are now in temporary homes as my husband is not liking my ideas. Hell, he doesn't seem to like any of my ideas as far as the walls in the house are concerned. He's afraid we'll make the wrong decisions with the holes in the walls and so he appears to erring on the side of no decision. Don't say anything to him but I think he thinks that if he waits long enough, the wall fairies will do it perfectly for us. If you think I'm being too snarky, well suck it up, I'm sick.

We were about to enter another full week without a sale, but I awoke to one, so I'll spare you the whine about that. Also this weekend, I made a connection with a twitter photographer friend and arranged o send her a few pieces for a photo shoot. I'll say more as it develops, but I'm really excited. She does amazing work and my listing photos for the pieces will get amazing all of a sudden. Then, I got a message from another photographer who I did not have the pleasure of already knowing, you asked if she could also borrow a couple of pieces for a photo shoot. As I checked her website, I was surprised to see a few familiar and fabulous images there. I happily agreed to the arrangement and again you will find out more as the story develops. I hope all these new pretty pictures will bring the inspire people to become customers. That would be just lovely.

Now, I'm off to pretend I'm not sick too, so that I can care for the sick children...it's going to be a very long day.

Ummm

Yeah, I've got nothing, but more of the same really. I speed tatted and finished up all the custom orders I had on deck as well as a couple of pieces that had been started and never finished. I slapped up a little not about Halloween in the store. I figured a polite warning to buy masks early, should they be desired was in order. Then I waited...and waited. Sure I picked up the needles and got to work some more, but after I get a bunch of inquiries, I tend to sit on my hands for a while wondering when or if they might return. You see, I get worried that if I start work on something else then I *will* get a custom order that will cause me to abandon what I've started. Then again, if I start to work on the piece inquired about, they are likely to never return to make that purchase. So I waver back and forth with little direction. I generally opt for working on small pieces, but currently it's the masks that are most in need of remaking.

The afternoon and evening was spent more on home matters. Looking for a new kitchen table that can actually be used by small children, still look nice, not be a stain magnet and well made and not ridiculously expensive. It is a task we are failing at. We did get the last of the light switches rewired with the help of a contractor friend. So with that, the completion of the backyard and the window treatments,we're about halfway to settled. The front yard is still a mess and we still have not adorned any of our walls. Then there's the dining table that won't arrive until the end of the month and the front sitting room that is currently only a pair of bookcases. We've discovered that big comfy chairs are far more expensive than we could have imagined.

Thanks for all the moral support after yesterdays episode. I do get great joy out of knowing how many of my pieces have traveled the world, especially since I haven't. That doesn't mean that I still don't long for the day that my pieces take a trip down the red carpet or in front of a movie camera or something as equally immortal. I imagine that after my own desires for fame were destroyed my my lack of the ambition and drive needed for it acquisition, that might be closest that I'll get. And now back to my actual and much less glamorous life...which I love, I promise.

Zombies, Curtains and Tatting, Oh My

Ever since homeschooling began, weekends have taken on a strange aura for me. As a stay at home mom, weekends are irrelevant, except that my husband is home. I still have tons of work and no break in sight, but with the addition of weekday teacher to my chores, the weekends bring an actual break. It's weird and really only a small break, but I like the way it separates things. This weekend, while I did get some tatting done, was more about the house...again. This time t was rewiring light switches and finishing up some curtain issues. Remember the kitchen ones giving me so much grief. Well, I just went and got some normal damn curtains with a valance and hung them higher to fit. I really would not have dealt well with the tiered curtains one is "supposed" to hang in there. I feel they might have driven me subtly mad over time.

Now here's my embarrassment for the weekend. I had a customer make an inquiry about whether on not something had crystals embellishing it. The piece had none, so I responded that it was "sans crystals". Yeah, I didn't think anything of it, until the customer responded that they didn't know what sans crystals were, but she wanted hers without any crystals. Oops. I've always had the problem of large vocabulary. I've used it as a social cushion, a way to deal with bullies as a child, and even to intentionally make customers feel stupid...when I worked in retail. Don't judge me, you try retail for nearly a decade and tell me how much you still 'love' people. Anyway, that wasn't my intent here and I felt really awful, but how do you even apologize for using a word someone doesn't know? I tried, of course, but I haven't heard back form them. I fear I may have doomed myself with a poor choice of words. Why couldn't I have just said 'without'? Oh, well...you can't go back right?

Also went to see the movie Zombieland, like much of the population. I do so enjoy a violent movie, particularly one with this amount of comedy mixed right in. There was one point in which the film threatened to get emotional, but rallied past it with a ridiculous joke. I enjoyed it so much that when I realized that I had yet to create the Wunderkammer post for today, I just used the movie as a platform. Though I do apologize that one of the pics is a bit of a spoiler.

Along with schooling today, I'm going to get those pendants I gave away to twitter friends ready to get into the mail. I also have at least one mask to tat and I think I shall stay on the mask track for a bit, just in case Halloween does actually bring the customers around even without an etsy feature. Yes, I'm still harping on that...they've got 25 days to throw one of my masks up somewhere, I'm just sayin'. Then of course there's the house work and hoping that the landscapers come around soon to fix the front yard grass and sprinklers and check on the back which they did actually finish though it took forever. So onto the week I suppose.

Yep, It's Monday

I know you were wondering whether I survived field trip day. Clearly survival was achieved and yes, we did indeed have a good time. All the worry about meeting the other local families was for naught. This is not because they all turned out to be wonderful but rather because so few local ones showed up.

Apparently families may attend any field trip by any teacher and since this one was in Fresno, the majority of the families in attendance were too. This meant that while we and the children had a good time, we were not meeting potential friends, but simply spending time with other people we're unlikely to see again. That took a lot of the strain off the day which was capped with a visit to a comic book store, though that wasn't as cool as my husband thought it would be.

I have been hard at work on the mask I mentioned the other day. The cat shaped eyes did prove a bit more of a challenge during the wire wrapping phase. I actually had to iron the piece before I started to get all the elements to line up around the eyes properly before I started to wrap with the thread. I sill need to get it pressed once more and get it on my mannequin head for pictures before I send it off. I promise I'll post a picture here probably tomorrow. It really is a subtle difference from the other mask, but I wonder if I should list it as it's own design or perhaps as an option when ordering the basic design. Like along side the message about thread and crystal colors, I add eye shape to the options. Yeah, I think that's what I'll do.

We're still waiting for our backyard to be completed, but we are almost finished with the blinds and curtains. All that's left is a pair of tiny windows in one bedroom and the damn window in the kitchen. What is up with kitchen curtains? Seriously, I just don't get the tiered curtain thing and when you add all the lacy, patterned ridiculousness, well I just can't do it. I may end up just sewing my own damn curtains, though I'm not certain where I'll wedge in that project. Anyway, here we go into another week.

One Step Forward

There was a mighty glorious sound in the backyard yesterday...the sound of a bobcat hard at work. The tractor, not an actual cat...though I'm sure you figured that out. Finally work has begun on our backyard, though ironically it has done so at the very great expense of the front yard. Having the tractor delivering sand from the front has ripped the yard a new one. The landscapers said that was to be expected and they would of course fix the damage as well. I don't doubt them, but it still looks sad out there.

Another interesting life twist also occurred yesterday, or rather came to a point then. If you remember all the drama with signing my 5 year old up for online school, she was put on a waiting list because they had already reached their cap on enrollment. I panicked and eventually decided that since kindergarten was not mandatory, I would just go it alone with her. Well about a week ago the school sent out a, 'we're trying to get the cap lifted' email. Then just the other day they sent one that said the cap was indeed lifted. I basically ignored this as I had gotten used to the arrangement we had going, but yesterday I actually got a call about finishing the enrollment process. As usual, I panicked when faced with talking to an actual person that wanted a decision. In the end I finished the enrollment process and now I await their decision on her acceptance. This will change the way me day is structured, but you just can't beat the material support they can provide. I'm still not shifting gears until I hear back, but...yeah.

I feel like a broken record, but damn, it's been well over a week since I made a sale. Yesterday, I had even more questions and requests without further response. Sure, I know they could still get back to me, but I'm starting to feel desperate over here. I've been slowly working on remaking a couple of things, but as you can imagine, I've been a bit distracted by other things. Without a fairly steady stream of orders, I'm finding it harder to justify tatting time. I know, I'll just keep on keeping on, but this is getting ridiculous. I'm starting to revert to newbie etsian wondering what I did wrong or who I pissed off. Meh, it'll turn around eventually right?

Weekend Update

It wasn't a bad weekend, but it was sure all over the place. Friday we got invited invited to one of the new neighbors houses for their 3 year olds birthday party the next day. I don't mind saying I was nervous. Sure we had met and talked to them briefly, but aside from location and having children we had no idea if there was anything else we would have in common.

Saturday morning we went to the Fall Festival one town over for a bit and then arrived at our neighbors house which is the exactly the same as our house only opposite. I suppose we spent more time getting ideas from there layout and backyard than we did socializing, but then again we're not the best socializers anyway. The kids got on great with the other children and I even ran into my twitter nemesis. Okay, not really nemesis, but rather the other person in my town that shares the top twittergrader spot with me. He works for the newspaper so he socializes as part of his job. So, I suppose we had an unofficial tweetup across the street.

Sunday we finally had my brother in law over with his kids to see the house. This was nice, but it totally messed with our Sunday routine and I feel like I missed a whole day really. We managed to visit the hardware store...again. This time for more ceiling fans. Oh, and the landscapers actually called to apologize for delivery delays that prevented them from starting work. Of course the rain that started last night is likely to postpone them again, I imagine. This has been one colossal bout of bad timing.

Then onto the etsy world...its slow...really slow. I don't think I've yet recovered from the time I took off to move. Momentum was great right before that and now the only thing I'm getting in large doses is lengthy inquiries that have yet to result in sales including a wholesale request that never responded back. It's hard to want to answer a zillion questions when I never hear back either way. I know there are several things I wanted to share that I'm missing this morning, but that's all I've got right now.

Turned a Corner

Well, since Friday morning, things have been looking up a bit. I took the day off from cleaning and got much done for the etsy shop instead. I took photos of the pieces I had made for the magazine shoot that never got their 15 minutes and got those listed including the Portrait of a Crimson lady. I do miss my old backyard and the lovely jasmine plant I used to take photos in front of, but they'll do for now.

Speaking of backyards though, we had a meeting with our landscaper to start work this week on what will be a brand new & hopefully beautiful backyard. We did fork over quite a bit of cash to make it happen, but I think it will be well worth it to have all that lovely space to play and work in. We've also made a bit of progress getting more boxes into the house, unpacked and into final resting places. In fact, it appears we might actually be able to park in the garage soon, yay!

Oh, and the ants...the pesky little devils. After many, many people suggested using borax, I went on a search for the stuff, finally finding a box of it and right next to it on the shelf was a premixed borax bait trap. So instead of trying to make the sugar mixture myself, I bought the bait traps and the borax for future use. When I got home, I went on a house wide search for a new trail and they did not disappoint. I laid down the trap and after what seems like forever the ants began to venture inside. After about an hour, the small trail had become a super highway. Now, we wait to see how long it takes for them all to die. I've heard tale that it can take anywhere from 24 hours to 7 days. The trail is no where near the kitchen, so I'm content to let them slowly poison the whole colony. Just to be clear, I have nothing against ants really, so long as they stay out of my house.

I also did get a sizable order this weekend as well as an interesting wholesale request for an Art gallery in Spain. I don't do traditional wholesale, but made a discount offer. I don't know yet whether that will be sufficient or not, but honestly, if it's not, I wouldn't want to do it anyway. My pieces take far too long to make in bulk and I certainly haven't priced them with enough of a markup from labor to justify a 50% discount to anyone. In fact, I had to turn down another offer to have my pieces sold in an online store, because I know I can't make enough, nor discount enough. Besides, I kind of feel like wholesaling to another online site is just hurting myself. Customers pay the same price at both places, but I just get less money for it. Sure it might work out if the volume was high enough, but I can't make that volume anyway...oh, well.

So, I've high hopes for the coming week. I feel like I've turned a corner and can safely move forward from here.

Get Ready For It

I'm tired, really tired. Like down to my bones and soul tired. For some unknown reason, I decide that yesterday would be the first big, I'm gonna clean the whole house day. My new house is twice as big as our old rental and that was more than twice as big as the apartment we left over three years ago. I remember as we were looking for a house to purchase saying many times, 'are you sure we need a two story house?' His mind was set on it and I do like have the space, but I knew the cleaning day would come. The downstairs has a lot of tile floor through the kitchen, living room and hall, this makes the daily cleaning a bit easier, but not the whole house clean. Now I have to mop what feels like half the house and vacuum the other half. I now also have an upstairs and downstairs kitty litter to change and all the bedrooms are upstairs with the laundry room downstairs. So as you might imagine, my day was all about the stairs, which I have no idea how to properly vacuum either.

When I woke this morning, my feet both ached, partly due to the cleaning and then there's still the matter of the broken toe and compensating for it by walking on the side of my foot. Apparently that too, takes its toll on ones body. I am so whiny today, I apologize, but here comes some more.

Sales in the etsy shop picked up for two days and then quite suddenly disappeared again. Normally this would just have me, well...whining, but now I'm getting worried as my income was figured into our ability to comfortably afford this house. No, not for the loan or anything, but for our own budget. With my income, we don't have to worry about the occasional silly purchase, without my income, we have to live a bit more frugally than we want to. I'm not sure what the problem is, as usually things begin to pick up in September, not the other way around. Oh, and to further stress the money issue, we got an estimate on landscaping our barren and goat head spur laden backyard. We honestly had no idea what to expect, but the big backyard that we loved so much about the house...well, it's gonna cost us dearly, many thousands of dollars, dearly. We have to get it done for the kids, for the family and for us, but damn...concrete and grass are expensive particularly when put over hard clay soil.

Let's see, have I gotten all the complaints out? Yes, I think so...wait, I also didn't get to tat at all yesterday. Is that it then...yeah, that's all of it. Here's hoping the other side of the weekend will bring a tad more joy so I will bitch a bit less.

New Mask

Yes, that's right, I made a new mask. It was actually designed and completed on Friday. This time around I started with a much simpler motif. It was tatted directing onto the eye wires and after much fiddling, I worked out a modified center, edge and wrapped the wire. I still have one more idea for another mask, but as I actually made a couple of sales this Sunday after a week long drought, Ill be working on remaking sold pieces first.

This weekend also saw us working on weeding and maintaining the front lawn. It's amazing what just a couple of weeks of neglect can do to a plant bed...the morning glories were seriously taking over. Of course as far as weeds go, they're at least pretty. We pulled out a plant that had perished long ago and bought a tropical canna plant to put in its place. We also received a very large sago palm from one of my husbands coworkers that we'll need to find a home for. We know so little of plants since we really couldn't plant any in the rental. It's been interesting looking these thing up and trying to act like homeowners. We also bought some curtains that I got up and a few ceiling fans...that will get put up by someone else with more manly hands than mine.

Much to my husbands delight, we have also finally gotten the entertainment center completely set up. All the game systems, programed new remotes and got everything in the right places instead of sitting on boxes in front of the television. They even busted out the street fighter game sticks, oh the button mashing.

Now, we just have two more rooms to really get cleaned up and it won't look so obvious that we just moved in and yes, I did all this stuff with my broken toe. Yes, it still hurts, though it would be much better if not for every member of my family stepping on it at least once. So, it was an eventful if slightly painful weekend and I'm sure I missed a few details, but I've written enough as it is.

Before The Sun Comes Up

I am an early riser. Up at like 5 every morning. Even on weekends I rarely sleep later than 6. So it is no surprise that I get to learn things even before the sun comes up. This morning, I took on the challenge of the sprinkler system. No, it's not complex, but this neighborhood is full of well manicured lawns and I do not want to be 'that' neighbor. Okay, with the hair and tattoos, I'm probably already 'that' neighbor, but I don't want to stand out for those kind of reasons. Still working out the line that's suppose to water the shrubberies. I think I need another set of eyes for that one...oh and a little light might help too.

Yes, the war of the ant wages on, though I think I might be winning at this point. I even turned back the tide originating from a window 15 feet up on our vaulted living room. This is not to say that they are not putting up a formidable fight. Keeping my foot elevated is nearly impossible with the constant bombardment of the new ant fronts...oh crap, there they are again.

Anyway, I did get some tatting done again yesterday finishing up a Portrait necklace. Now, I am completely caught up on sold items. I will probably get to work on more masks just to get some more stock ready for the upcoming Halloween season. I did also run across some clearance necklace wires, you know the ones that create the floating pendant, that I'd like to create a new piece or two with. I don't know if I've got a lot of creative energy right now, so I might not get around to those for a while. Of course since I can't work on more unpacking with the broken toe, so sitting on my arse tatting is really my best bet.

I did take a couple of house pictures yesterday, but I haven't uploaded them yet. I think I know where the cable is...maybe. Yeah, I'll get around to sharing those sooner or later.