Marking Time, Making Progress

Yesterday I packed up the rest of the loot stored at Crazy Girl's house. Just some personal stuff, sewing stuff, and of course my food. The fridge there has utterly died. I had to throw out tons of stuff, but salvaged my mushrooms and asparagus for today's lunch. I toted the Champion Juicer out, but left the Bravetti. That was after juicing a yummy grapefruit and lemon concoction and slamming it down. I was thirsty! I'll use the Champion at my son's house for awhile while I prepare for the big move.

I cleaned the cat pan, scrubbed Spike's ass (literally), and fondled Kristi Belle Belle Belle. She licked my hands and fingers and arms until she was satisfied that I no longer had any skin left. Good kitty! I have some interesting characters for cat ornaments in my life. Spike was originally named Baby, and belonged to my dearest friend. She went out to Missouri and left him with me about six years ago. He hid under my bed and didn't eat for a week and I didn't understand how serious that could be as he is a very obese fellow. Hence the reason he needs help with his hygiene. So Spike got Hepatic Lipidosis from what is essentially cat anorexia, a very serious condition. He survived by getting a feeding tube and being fed some specialized nutrition. We did this for several months and during that time we really bonded with each other. In honor of his tough survivor spirit I renamed him Spike, but everybody just calls him Fat Cat. He loves his people. Kristi Belle Belle Belle is just a human oriented and bonded three year old kitten with a fondness for being near and licking her people. My personal life plan is to get Spike to his original Mommy's house, visit a spell with her, then hit the road in the converted van with Belle Belle. Although I may leave Belle Belle with Mavis until I've done some serious hiking in the west. I've lived in Colorado and hiked Pike's Peak, but I've never done anything further west, or even been to the Grand Canyon. I have to get some miles under my feet.

Several years ago I had an accident which shattered my left ankle and messed up that leg and foot pretty good. There were some fun times with surgery and I felt good and sorry for myself. I was creeping up on 50 and felt kind of cheated by circumstances in my life. For about 5 minutes, well maybe 50 minutes. Though self-pity still hits me now and then, I was determined to make a new life for myself that would include my passions. I love to make miniature jewelry and doll accessories. I love to make things, hence people sized charm bracelets. I love to find tiny treasures and turn them into something special. I love to hike and camp in the outdoors. I love less stuff, smaller stuff, and enjoy using my imagination to come up with a variety of ways to use resources wisely. As a product of the 60's I was deeply influenced by the hippy movement. I missed living it by a few years, but I lived the bohemian life in college complete with wheatgrass sprouts and vegan potlucks. I've slept on a pallet with oodles of roommates and did without television for several years. I purposefully missed out on the drugs and free love, I'm not sure what that was all about, unless the herbs are all natural--hint hint. It was a peaceful and fulfilling experience. I've tried to get back to it all my life, but feel like the shackles of a job and a permanent home keep me from this goal. I want to write, obviously, and I still love to write software, though not as a technical slave to others. I'll figure it out. That's my thang.

Today I need to mail off a miniature bracelet someone bought from my Ebay store and pick up some jewelry components for the people sized charm bracelet project. And because this week is dedicated to paperwork I will get some more ink for my HP 7110 all-in-one. I need to print tax forms and design new labels for the people sized charm bracelets. And I plan to buy some display boxes on Ebay for selling the bracelets. For 10 cents a box it makes your creations look so professional that you can add a few more dollars to the price. I am a ferocious marketer. LOL

And somehow all the hiking I've been doing has made my neck and back hurt like I'm 70 and have arthritis. No way! I don't consume dairy products! It ain't happening! I think I just overdid the yard sale last weekend and I'm not used to the backpack yet this season. The weather has been so weird, wet, and frigid. Well, it's 11:30 am, time to attend to my hygiene and get moving. I want to get home by 1:00 and watch the ABC soaps while I do the paperwork project (sort/purge/file/handle/correspondence/etc) so it isn't such a horrid chore. And yesterday went well with the charm bracelet project, so well that I'd like to up the production to 12 sets a day. I figured I only need to sell 3 sets a day to survive, but the more you have to show the better they sell. And to digress even further, I make one cool set and bag up the parts to reproduce the design. This way I can make and show one, but list that I have 50 of them, for instance. I'll do some one-of-a-kinds, but it makes better use of my resources to get the reproducible ones on Ebay first. That's marketing. Like Microsoft, I sell it before I finish it, if you get my drift...create once, sell many times. That's the key. The one-of-a-kind bracelet sets will cost more and may get more sales, but it's very time consuming to list one item. It pays to list one item that you have more units to sell. I figure I will have over a four thousand items ready when I start pushing them. That will be closer to Christmas, when current income stream starts to dry up. I'm not relying financially on the Ebay store yet, but will be able to do that when rent is not a factor.

Oh, my youngest son is getting quite serious about his new girlfriend. I'm making her and her four year old daughter a matching charm bracelet, earrings, and necklace set for each, plus a tiny set for a teddy bear. I'm such a hopeless romantic. I hope this works out for all of them. I love kids.