Weekly update. . .May the Fourth (be with you)

Happy Star Wars day, yes that is a joke in the title in case you are not a giant nerd or missed the reference somehow. 😅  

It has been a productive week for me, I've set my workbenches, unpacked many boxes including tools, supplies, and inventory. 

Sorting out the contents of some of the boxes takes quite a while, even when the boxes are small and it seems like it should be super quick it takes hours. 😏 

Because of the nature of the supplies inside some of these boxes need a lot of sorting, although I am thinking about leaving some of them packed. I don't plan to use the buckles, spots, rivets, snaps, etc., that are for leather, because I don't really plan on doing any leather work in this house. 

But the boxes of jewelry findings, barrettes, pins, rings, scales, beads and wire tree supplies etc., are still a ton of stuff to sort out. 😉

I have re-activated most of the chainmaille listings on #goimagine but not all of them, I still need to do an inventory check on the earrings. I started re-activating the wire trees, but I also need to verify inventory on a few of those. Art will be last because I want to do all new photos, not just for the framed pieces but ALL of the paintings need new better photos. 

I am trying not to think about the amount of work it will be to re-photograph all the art. . .there are over 100 finished paintings. . .at least 10 listing photos each. . .so shooting literally thousands of photos to select and edit down to a thousand to use. 😬 Yeah yikes, should not have thought about that. 😅  

I still need to re-activate stuff on other platforms, I did a few on Michaels but I still haven't done any on etsy. I'm not thrilled with Michaels really, but I did have some sales there last year, so I thought I'd give it another go. However, since reactivating listings over a week ago I have noticed that the stats haven't updated or moved it is literally stuck on March/April a month behind. I went looking for the facebook group where we used to report things but apparently, it's gone, the official group that was run by an actual Michaels employee that is listed/linked in the seller help pages is just gone, the link goes nowhere, I've searched facebook every way I could. I finally posted in a different michaels sellers group and asked wtf? multiple people have said the group is just gone and there was little to no explanation, the employee that ran the group has left michaels, heck a few of them are speculating that Michaels may just throw in the towel on the whole of MakerPlace. 😐 Not sure how to process that.  . .it would not be the first time a retail craft store tried to launch a handmade platform and completely gave up, I remember the A.C.Moore/Zibbet partnership fiasco, it did not work out and A.C.Moore ended in bankruptcy (I think they were headed there anyway because of the excessive/constant coupons, kind of like Bed, Bath & Beyond or JoAnns).  So, I think I'll just focus on goimagine for now. 😉 

Weekly update. . . re-opened

Well, I have not gotten the workshop set up yet, but unpacking is happening. 😉 Inventory has been located and mostly verified and counted, so listings are being re-activated, so far just chainmaille and wire trees but I'll get to the art and shooting new photos eventually. Actually, I've been focusing on goimagine and haven't even started reactivating etsy yet😅 I literally just changed the announcement.  

I am looking forward to being done with the move and getting back to "business", but I am not looking forward to the social media posting demands of being back in business. 😒

The new catio has been installed at the rental house so at least the cats are happy. 😇 

I think today we'll be breaking out the grill

Weekly update. . .Happy Easter

I'm gonna be honest. . .this move has been exhausting 😔 from Thanksgiving when I had to tell my best friend it was absolutely a done deal that we would be moving, thru to right now sitting in this rental house debating on what to unpack, it has been months of non-stop work and decisions. I would say "I think I need a vacation", but I don't want to go anywhere I just want to sleep. 😴 Maybe I'll take a nap today. 

No idea when I will have the shop fully reset. I can reactive most of the jewelry listings but much of the art needs new photos for the framed pieces so that will have to wait. 

This will be my workshop space eventually, but there is a lot of sorting to do to clear the floor space so I can decide where to set my bench and easel for the best lighting. 

I have been working on it, I have found several boxes that don't go there 😅 like the box of guest towels I've been looking for, for a bloody week. Multiple boxes of PLA fiber and computer bits that belong in my husband's office not mine. Plus, I've decided to set up the racking for the crates of art inventory in a different room than my work room due to the size of the rooms, so lots of re-shuffling of boxes before workshop building can begin.  

I am slowly making progress; look you can see the stack of drawers in the corner and most of the floor. 😉

weekly update. . . April showers

You know that saying, "April showers bring May flowers"?  

Well, it may be true, but it is rather inconvenient when trying to move. Due to excellent planning and a little luck, we have managed to land and empty 2 large PODs into the house mostly in between rainstorms. Thanks to amazing moving help that has worked with us on the schedule/weather, they have arrived on-time each time and worked fast to get it done when not raining. I prepped for moving in the rain so had covered the carpet and laid out moving blankets to reduce the tracking about which worked great. Today there are no movers to help and we have to get the couch, chaise, mattress, cat condos and cats out of this apartment and over to the house, hopefully before it rains again this afternoon. ~fingers crossed~  

I would say last load, but I doubt we'll get it all at once and there is stuff at his work like the fish tanks that will eventually get moved but that can wait. Monday/Tuesday I have to finish the clear out and clean-up of the apartment for checkout. 

I have endless work to do in the new house, I'll be unpacking for a month. 😏 Or more likely because it's a rental I won't unpack everything. 😉

I'll just spend the next year having random moments of " where is _____? Did I unpack that?" 😅

weekly update. . .move in

The rental house has been secured, lease signed, deposit paid, so now I have a lot of cleaning to do. I need to clean the rental before the POD's deliver and the moving help moves all the stuff in the way. Then I'll need to clean the apartment before we check out, so the next week will be another exhausting one. 😏  

The weather forecast is not looking helpful, rain and storms on multiple days. Hopefully it won't be too bad otherwise movers moving stuff in the rain and tracking in for hours on end will counter all the cleaning.  

I look forward to being out of this apartment, it's a nice apartment but I swear the upstairs neighbor is a hippo or perpetually angry-stomping or perhaps just the most graceless person to ever walk. I don't know but she's loud ALL the time. 😒 I could really use a week of makeup sleep but that's not likely to happen anytime soon. So, I'll just keep plugging away and concentrate on that magical "someday". 

someone try the new special edition Harry Potter goldfish and tell me they suck, so I don't feel like I'm missing out 

weekly update. . .next month

After months of unsuccessfully searching for a home to buy, next month we'll be moving into a rental house, not an ideal solution but at least it's a house with a garage. A house that is big enough to hold all our stuff and give me a space to work again, plus no more standing outside to have a cigarette. 

In the meantime, I have unboxed the chainmaille dragons and shot some new photos so that I could enter the #Makerchallenge on #goimagine because this month's theme was Enchanted Forrest and really what's more enchanted than a purple dragon. 😎

weekly update. . .not so fast

Well, that didn't go the way it was supposed to. 😕 

The house we made an offer on epically failed its' inspection; electrically problems, plumbing problems, structural problem, water and mold in the crawl space, bad well water test. . . yeah we're out. We have extricated ourselves from the contract with minimal loss of money but the time lost cannot be recovered and I'm now facing if the next house ain't "the one" we're going to have to stop looking to buy and just rent something before the time runs out on the temporary apartment and the next round of monthly rent comes due on all the PODs. 😒 

So, I have 2 houses to look at this afternoon ~fingers crossed~ otherwise I have a list of back-up rental houses to investigate next week. I've already looked at the rental companies and their pet policies and ruled out a couple of the corporate landlord types because of their rules, from tricon having a 2 pet limit (we have 3 cats and I'm not giving one away) to having excessive "pet rent" looking at you Progress with your $199 a Month add-on for 3 cats. 

I have no problem paying an extra deposit or small monthly fee, but my 3 boys are all fixed and declawed and aside from pawing a window blind they have never damaged anything so $300 non-refundable deposit EACH seems a bit excessive to me and the near $200 a month is just insane, my cats cause less damage that people's children and somehow they don't charge extra for kids. 😐 Dogs with paws full of claws that scratch the heck out of things and eat the trim off doorways absolutely charge for the damages, but again my cats are fixed and declawed and have never done major damage to any place we've ever lived. 

Long story short I have no idea when I will re-open RainbowMaille.

but at least Merlin is settled and napping in the open again