A very different kind of week

Since I last wrote, things have been different for this household. The big thing was my husband being gone. Like I said last week, he left on Sunday for a two week commercial fishing trip. This is something that he has wanted to do because he loves to spend time with his Dad. So this was the year for it. We knew that it would be a trial but did not think it would be to bad.

Well, as weeks go, it wasn't to bad. The kids, so far, have missed the disease that is going around town. The younger 3 and I took a quick trip to Ketchikan on the ferry to see the orthodontist, and get some school stuff. Taking a ferry for six hours with a 5 yr old can always be an adventure. He had a blast talking to everyone that would listen. Plus McDonalds is always something to look forward too. I have been teaching my 12 year old daughter how to cook. Which I am very happy to say, she is doing a great job. My work has been going ok. I have been making things to put on my etsy. That is the picture of the knitted then felted purse. The dogs are fine, cat is just getting fat. Weather wise, it has been up and down, rain then sun. I have an actual tomato on my plants outside. The kids are all registered in school. As you can see things are pretty normal except for one thing--James is not here.

For years, the longest James and I have been apart is that week I talked about in my last post. Until now. Usually it would not be a big deal because of the telephone or internet, some kind of communication. From Sunday to Sunday, not a word from him. He is out in the ocean, cells do not work there. Finally last night he was in Port Protection and borrowed the phone at the resturant, as the public phone did not work, and he called. I almost did not answer it, because I was working, but after the second ring grabbed it and pushed that 1 very fast to accept a collect call.

It is funny, you live with a man for years, he is the father of your children, your best friend, he goes to work-comes home. You share everything with him, hopes, dreams, battle all sorts of lifes ups and downs. But how often in the middle of everything do you think what it would be like without him?? I mean you know you love him, you are grateful for him and what he does, but to not hear from him for a week--puts a whole new twist on how you feel. It is not that I am not capable of taking care of things, because I am. It is that feeling of something or someone in this case missing.

Today, he did not fish because of bad weather, so James went to the internet cafe so that we could talk on messanger. It was great to be able to talk to him. I was able to tell him again how much we love him and miss him. James was able to tell me that he missed me and that he loved me. The kids took turns "talking " to him. The older kids miss him, but the youngest is having the most problem. His fear was that Daddy would be eaten by a mud shark. Mud sharks are ugly but not to big. All in all it was a great day because we were able to communicate.

The communication has been the trial. If we were able to talk, yes, we would still miss each other, but not to the extent that we have discovered. Hopefully James will be home on Sat. Between now and then he probably will not be able to call. One week down and only 5 more days to go. We can do this.

Silent Time

Here is a picture of a doe standing on the lawn at the church. I was on my cell with the 20 year old, (making sure he had not forgotten his 15 yr old brother) drove in to the church parking lot to do geneology, and there she stood. Not afraid of anything which was a surprise as it is hunting season here. Well of course the boys had to come and see. We all got some good pictures.

Now after the whole thing with the Consumer Protection Agency, I am knitting up a storm. Made the decison to finish all the baby blankets put them in the attic and wait for more grandkids. I have made some pretty silver and black wraps. Very nice for formal wear. As soon as I can get one of my girls to stand still long enough I will take pics and add them on my etsy.

My brain storm for the week was to do a different kind of pincushion. As I was discussing it with one of my girls, they suggested dolls. So, I made 6 dolls and listed them on my site. They are a bit on the strange looking side, but for what they are--I am happy. Their name is SewPal Polly. Each one is different and just right for the seamstress that has everything.

I have never added pictures to a post before, and so they are not where I wanted. They were suppose to go with the paragraph, but no such luck. Oh well live and learn.

The weekend went by fast. I spent Sat cooking for my husband and father in law. They left yesterday to go commercial fishing for 2 weeks. Cooking is not my bag, but I guess from what everyone says I am good at it.

Sat night we took the kids to the new Harry Potter movie. It was good. And only had one scary part in it, so the 5 year old was happy. The funny was when the scary part came-everyone in the theater jumped. We knew that James Jr would be fine, as one of his older brothers had seen it, and is very good about telling us which younger kid can watch what.

Sunday, James left. It is strange as we have not been seperated longer than a week. That was when my sister lost her husband last year. The wind is bad today, so I hope that they are safe.

I am so happy I got my first person enrolled in Melaluca. It is my neice. I just love the products. They are so awesome. If a person has any allergys or skin issues, then these products are for them. There are alot of people on the island enrolling into Melaluca, especially the daycares. The products are very child safe and environmentally friendly. We have used the laundry soap to see if it would get out the horrible smell of the cannery on clothes, it did. Very impressive, as nothing else does that. Those clothes stink to the high heavens and the Melaluca soap got the smell to go away. My oldest daughter has bad excema on her feet. We have battled it since she was 2, she is now 30. Since she started using the lotion her feet have really cleared up. Plus getting commission on ordered is a great thing. Everyone can use extra money.

Well, I had better get my laundry finished. Hope everyone that sees this is having a great week.

Earning more income

With this economy, who doesn't need more income in there life?

With the CPSC rules and regs, the slow economy, my business is way down. It was time to find a bit of help that didn't include getting a job away from home. That is why I am putting this on here. It is my way of sharing what I have found.

By simply switching stores we are able to rid my house of caustic chemicals, save money, and at the same time earn an income without making, selling, delivering or taking orders. One of my daughters had been a customer for over 6 years, my other daughter and I decided to join and we are getting results. THIS IS NOT A MLM COMPANY OR A SCAM! Let me show you how to improve your life with out spending a lot of money to do it. I promise not to waste your time.

Got it covered....

I spent most of the weekend deciding what to do about my webstore, which way to go. After a great debate, I have figured it out. Now it is time to act on it. After I get done with this short blog, it will be time for me to add a few new items to my etsy.

Puzzles are a big deal in this house. It is something that everyone loves to work one. We decided that they were just to pretty to take apart, so I finished them into pictures. The one thing that I have done different is that for a frame instead of using wood, I have used material. It gives the pictures a different look for sure. Plus the frames are not overpowering the picture, the picture is the focus not the frame. Please feel free to check out the pictures on my etsy.

Very discouraged

After doing alot of research, I have decided that I am no longer going to make childrens(under age 12) things-clothes, dolls etc. It seems that the Consumer Protection Agency has made some new rules starting Aug 14th of this year. With these new rules brings alot of anxiety to a small business owner. I can not afford to do all the things that would put me in compliance. Nor can I afford to just ignore what the rules are and continue on like nothing has changed.

As a parent, I so understand why the new rules are in effect. With the import and export of goods, it is a good thing to have rules. But as a person that is losing income over this, it is a hard pill to swallow.

I have taken everything off of my etsy that is for children. This was the weekend that I was to take all the material out and start on a bunch of baby things for fall, instead, I took all the baby material out of the closet, and am working on blankets and things for only my grandkids and kids.

This whole thing is very disturbing. I have worked very hard to get where I am today. Marketing and learning how to use the internet to get customers, on top of daily things, plus working on products. Trying to be creative through it all. Now part of it is gone, and I have to rethink my business. My worry is about the alterations part of it. I can regroup and do something different with the website, but not for the alterations. There are alot of people that have me put zippers or new buttons on their kids clothes. That may not be an option any more.

I have written the agency and asked some questions about the alteration part of my business, plus about hold harmless clauses. It will be interesting to read what they have to say.

My heart goes out to so many people that are and have quit making baby things because of this. The income from doing this while it may not be a substantial part of their business for alot of us it is a part that we truly enjoy. We have to give up something that we love doing. It is to bad that things have progressed to the point that in such a depressed economy, that we lose yet another source of income.

Bearing (berrie) picking

My husband and I got the idea that tonight would be a good one to see if the thimble berries were ripe at the shooting range. This is where we go every year. Now normally we take a gun with us when we go out to pick berries. Note, we have never seen any bears while picking berries. Unfortunatly tonight, we forgot the gun. So, here we are picking berries,walking along, deciding that the berries are not that ripe and we need to wait another week. The older kids saw some berries, so we stopped. I heard some twigs and stuff getting broke to the side of me, thinking that the 14 yr old was doing it, I did not look. Then we heard the growl. This was not a "checking you out, and these are my berries" kind of growl, oh no, it was " you people need to leave now" growl. Turning to my husband, I was like "what was that??" As I am saying that the second growl came with a little more force. It was then, that we all started to run to the van. Of course, the van was up a hill and around a corner. The 14 yr old took the lead, and I told him to get to the van and open the doors. Our youngest girl -12-was right on his heels, then came my husband, 5 yr old, and myself. The 10 yr old is running but not very fast-- asking " why are we running??" At that point I am grabbing him. We made it to the van, the bear did not follow, figure that he was in the bushes having a fit of laughter watching the dumb humans run. Remember the commercial with the squirrels getting the car to wreck and then laughing??? After we catch our breath, we then drove out of the shooting range. We did not stop to see if we could see the bear on the side of the road. Bears are not noted for having a sense of humor, and can take out a car. Not an experiance we wanted. Ok now I have a confession--all the time I have been here, my husband has told me over and over to wear tennis shoes when we go out in the wilds. I like my flip flops and have ignored him. Not 5 minutes before the whole bear thing, he gives me the "shoe" talk again. While I am running, I am thinking--if I get eaten by a bear because I was running to slow in the flip flops, I am really going to be mad!! Of course, when we got to the van and drove off guess what my husband said??? Oh yeah you got it, the "shoe" talk again. Now I will wear my tennis shoes when we go out no matter how hot it is. Lesson learned.

Only 5 more days

Only 5 more days and my sale is over....If any one sees something that they are interested in, please convo me and let me know. I will adjust the price accordingly--www.thegoldenthimble713.etsy.com I really wanted to sell some stuff as I have new things to put on there.

I am excited. My oldest son is in town. Not sure how long he will be here. But as long as I get to see him, I am fine.

Getting past the heat is something. Although it is going to help my tomatoes. As soon as they get a few more set on I will take some pictures and put them on here.

This last week in review

Wow, this has been a busy week. I retook most of my pictures for my etsy. My youngest daughter and oldest granddaughter were my models when needed. They did such a good job, both are very pretty and enjoyed the picture taking. That took an entire day. Then the 2 days, I put them on the website. All in all I think that the light was better this time. The pictures were taken in a different room with lots of windows. If it had been sunny, that would have been better too, but then living in Southeast Alaska sunny days are not always when you want them. Let me know what you think of them--www.thegoldenthimble713.etsy.com--Right now I am in the middle of some new projects for my store. I will let everyone know when I put them on. I was going to open up another store for just my baby things, but decided not to. Geez, it is hard enough keeping up with one, and all the marketing for it, so scrapped that idea.

My family and I drove out to the south end of the island last Saturday morning. It was so pretty out there. That is when I took the waterfall picture. We saw two black bears. The first one was a baby. Just kept on going, as we did not want his mama to have a fit. The second one was a 2 year old. He was on his own. Unfortunatly, both were to fast to take pictures of. It was still cool to see.

Yesterday morning we had a unusual thing happen. The neighbors friend landed a helicopter behind our houses. That was alot of excitement. The first thing I thought of was --alrighty who is going to get arrested, then of course, I thought--maybe I won the publishers clearing house--naw- knew that one would be to good to be true, but was very happy the first thought was not there.

For this week and next-- the younger 2 kids have swimming lessons. There are 6 levels here to pass. It is great for the kids, with all the water around here. There are two sessions in the summer and then during the winter, there is a program in the school.Speaking of school, trying to get ready for that now. The new thing is for the first time in our schools history, we are going to have hot lunches available in all 3 schools. Now, I know that for all the people down south, that may sound very wierd, as you guys have had school lunch programs forever. The island is small, and the problem as always been how to provide the food. This year the funding came through-money is always an issue--so one of the local diners is going to do the cooking and delivering. Not sure how much this is going to cost us. Funny that part was not in the local paper when the article came out...makes me wonder how expensive this will be.

I did figure out how to fix the whole--2 blog thing--when I write, I will paste and copy so both blogs have the same thing on them. That way not one gets left out. Another exciting thing is that I was able to put Sarah Palin on my blog and my twitter yesterday. For some that might not be a big deal, but for most Alaskans, it is. And we are very big Palin supporters.Well on my way out the door for swimming lessons.

I hope that this helps my followers for the award

Ok--I am having a horrible time with this blogging thing. Upset does not even begin to define this. When I was making the blog, I ended up with 2 of them. Well the one that is for my business has my personal name on it, the one that is personal has my business name on it. All I wanted was one blog not 2. And certainly not the names the way that they are. UGH!!!!! So I am coping the award info that was put on my other blog. Then I will contact them when Etsy is back up, as it in in maintance mode...go figure...If anyone knows how to fix this mess please let me know. Thanks....

Thursday, July 16, 2009

The Premio Meme Award
Since I am new at this, I will try and follow suit with my award--Thanks to Cutie PatootieBeads and Stitchnmomma, I have been awarded "The Premio Meme Award".. I am very honored to recieve this and will continue to try and stay one of their favorites. Both of these ladies have wonderful stores that should be hearted by all. Please check out their blogs and stores on etsy.According to tradition I must share 7 things about myself in order to accept this award... so here goes...this is not in any order..1. I love to do geneology.2. My favorite season is spring.3. I hate to cook. I am good at cooking, but it is just not my thing.4. Love to travel and see new things.5. I want to restore another old car.6. My goal is to grow my hair down to my knees, it is almost where I can sit on it. Why??because I can..7. I have a smart answer for everything and am extremely funny. No matter what my kids think..Ok-- now for the rest of the requirements, I am bestowing this wonderful award to 7 other bloggers--http://ajscountycottage.blogspot.comhttp://eiriel'seclectics.blogspot.comhttp://yystudio'sdesignerhandmadecustomwomenclothes.blogspot.comhttp://mechelledesigns.blogspot.comhttp://craftythisandthat.blogspot.comhttp://alygatrseverywhere.blogspot.comhttp://countrywindows.blogspot.comAgain, thank you for this honor.
Posted by the golden thimble at 1:04 PM 3 comments
alygatrseverywhere.blogspot.comhttp://countrywindows.blogspot.com

2 blogs and I wanted one.....

Well, when I got done with "The Golden Thimble" blog, I found that I have 2 blogs. I really only wanted one. Now I do not know how to combine them or even if I can. So, I guess I will talk on both until this is figured out. If by chance someone knows how to fix this, please let me know.

a beautiful day in Alaska

It is Thur, and so I have 2 of the grandkids with 4 kids home of ours. The sun is shining, not to hot, and not to cold. Just right for playing outside. We have a huge swingset in the yard, with a slide, so the kids are occupied. Or maybe not. Today seems to be one of "those" days, you know where no one is happy, and nothing is right. So, after numerous time outs, we are now watching a movie with popcorn, a quiet time moment. I am taking advantage of it and writing this.

The challenge for the day, besides laundry, cleaning, taking care of the kids, making a grocery list, wondering what to do for dinner and figuring out my quarterly taxes--is to try and get all of my websites threaded or linked together. I do think that I am making progress. If I can get all of them on my --myspace, I might be done. I wanted to link them to my yahoo, but couldnt find out how to do it. Linking my msn messanger isnt done either. Ok, well now that I think about it, I guess I have alot more to do. I am not sure where to link my webshots account to this one. Or my twitter.

I am almost done with the "hannah montana" quilt. When it is done I will have a pic on my webshots.

Well, they are almost done with the popcorn and are going to want to go back outside. I will write more later.

a google profile

Well, after I got done with my etsy store, I read some more advice on how to get my store known. So, I made a google profile. With links to my blogs. Will see how much traffic I get from that. It should be interesting. I am sure that there is more ways to promote my store, just have to look for them.

Well, I have 2 of my grandkids. Their mother is promoting Melaluca ( probably spelled that wrong). The products are great, but the promoting is not my thing.

I had better get going and see if I can find my husband and youngest--they are outside somewhere. As soon as it cools down, I need to water all of my plants that are outside. Gotta check my potatoes too.

working out the bugs of a business

I have spent the last two days rearranging my etsy. One thing that did help was that I asked fellow store owners to critque my store. Their imput was wonderful. Very well needed. So I changed things. It looks better now. My next thing is the avitar. I have my pic with my husband now. Not sure if that is a good thing or not. I am going to ask. I want the personal touch, but maybe that is to personal. We will see what the rest of the people say.

Also I am twittering..that is interesting. A bit boring too. It is suppose to help with sales, so will see. I did sign up for a 5 day course on how to sell better with Etsy. That was in the middle of my grandson passing away, so I had forgotten that I put all the information in a file and have just left it there. Need to get on to that. I am finally feeling that I can handle it again.

I have some ideas for my store. That is my project for the week after I get done with my daughters "Hannah Montana" quilt. Just got done with my states quilt. That took 16 years to finish. If anyone would like to see it and some others that I have done, I have a webshots page. Just look for "The Golden Thimble". Please let me know what you think.

It is time for me to go onto something else. The 5 year old is having fun playing with my hair. I am growing out my hair. Right now it is at my bootie, when I am done, I want it to my knees. Why--because I can and for the heck of it to see if my hair will go that far.

computers Ugh!!!

All right, I have spent more hours than I can count trying to get my website in Etsy out there. First I have discovered that I am not very good at marketing and advertising. I am better at making the things. I did get a google analytics profile. Not sure how much that is going to help, as there were things to go with it, and I am not that smart. In a nutshell, I am frustrated. Guess I am going to have to get help. Not even sure where to go for that.

One good point--I made a "Crown Royal" throw. It was auctioned off locally, made 400.00$ for charity. I was happy that it could be useful in more than one aspect.

Past that things are going fine. The kids are doing fine, just dealing with things that life hands everyone in time.

Birthdays are coming fast. Mine is already over, my husbands and now the kids are starting in. So far one girl and today a grand daughter.

It is snowing and I have alot to do, so I will save this and write more later.