May 2016 Reading list...so far..

1. A Rose In Scotland

2. In Your Arms

3. Goblin Moon

 

4. Shadow Dance

5. Someone to Watch Over Me

6. The Highwayman

March 2016 Reading List (so far...)

1. As the Crow Flies

2. A Serpent's Tooth

3. Any Other Name

4. Among Wolves

5. Follow the Crow

6. Spirit of Steamboat

7. Dry Bones

Oceans of books...

When I was a kid, living in a rural area, the books you owned were treasures. They were scarce and hard to get a hold of compared to now. There were quite a few books in our house but still it was a very limited amount compared to many households today. You could sneak some from your parents to read but they didn't have that many either and they were usually either two ways: not too entertaining or way too entertaining. Not really for you but they were stories (yeah!) and most of the time any story was better than none :)

You could go to the school library during the school year but you always had to give them back (lol) and then there were the long drawn out days of summer, dusty and dry of books. If chores were done we might get a ride or we could walk or ride our bikes to the school (3 miles one way) on the days the bookmobile came and hope you got there before all the "good ones" were gone. Even when the bookmobile came you had to carefully dole your choices out to yourself to try to make them last until the next visit and you still ran out even if you read them all again...2 weeks until the next visit LOL

I grew up reading darn near anything I could get my hands on. Somehow I imparted this love, this addiction of the printed page  on to my children and they are voracious readers as well. E-readers are nice yes but the books, all the books...oh the lovely books...our house is overflowing with books. We have boxes and boxes upon boxes of books. We need to do some purging. Reasonably. And we will still need more bookshelves LOL.

Guess what I'm doing today :)

February 2016 Reading List (so far) :

1. Country Brides

2. Junkyard Dogs

3. Hell is Empty

January 2016 Reading List (so far) :

1. The Cold Dish

2. Death Without Company

3. Kindness Goes Unpunished

4. Another Man's Moccasins

6. Midsummer Night's Magic

7. The Maze Runner

8. The Scorch Trials

9. The Death Cure

10. The Kill Order

11. The Dark Horse

12. Twenty Wishes

13. Hearts Divided

14. Married In Seattle

15. The Stone Heart

Happy Festivus

Yep, it’s that day...

And for you George lovers out there (bwahahaha—-you weirdos!) You’re welcome 😉 

Good News

Doc appointment today and he cleared me to start training for a overnight hike I want to do this summer. Yes I know with all the crap I am up and down with that it might sound like I've lost my mind but frankly, I'm not getting any younger and I've been frustrated with the way my diabetes meds have been working/notworking and this is also a chance to tackle these issues that have been seesawing my blood sugars anytime I try to up my activity levels when I am able to move around.
Along with upping my daily blood sugar checks he will be monitoring my A1-C's monthly and adjusting diabetes meds levels as needed. He said today that if I didn't have Fibro/CFS that I wouldn't have to take ANY diabetes meds until I was quite a bit older.
So...I am pretty excited about this (I'm sure I'll feel different once I'm in the middle of it LOL), it's going to be really hard but I'm looking forward to it too.

Coastal hike, starting out at Rialto Beach /Ozette Loop

I wanted to take my kids along this trail to Hole In The Wall when they were little but I had to wait they were old enough. By the time they could go, I couldn't...and now they're all grown up but still game for going so I'm stoked. Good Lord I miss being outside!

I already know this will be a MINIMUM six mile hike for me...you have to hike at least 3 miles in before you can set up camp for the night so at the very least... LOL It's not the first day that is the real test, it's the day after and the day after that. To be pill free again, that would just be a great bonus

Here's a closer pic of Hole in the Wall---you see that dark spot to the left of the opening? That's a person standing there. The opening is huge! :

OK, off to pretend to be productive, I'm just happy things finally feel like they might be moving forward for a change :)

Like a fine wine...some things age beautifully...

Feeling old? It's the 38th anniversary (almost to the day) of the release of Bat Out Of Hell by Meatloaf. Now how ya feeling? Ah...just put this album on and rock out. Happy Happy :) 3 (almost 4!!!) decades and still going strong:

Bat Out Of Hell (full album playlist link)

Fall Launch (we'll see)

So today marked on my calendar is the latest start date for Fall/Winter listings for Etsy for me. What this means is I have determined this is my last personal deadline to start getting stuff listed on Etsy for the 2015 holiday season.

So. I've got a ton of stuff that needs to be listed. Getting myself together to create listings is the big challenge. I'm going through all the vintage inventory and since I've had no set office all the boxes are in different locations around the house and in storage and wow, it's a lot (did I mention that already? LOL) and it's in all those different places.

I will be doing this slowly...well, actually even slower than normal for me as I spent the latter half of this weekend trying to recover from processing over 70 lbs of fruit and veggies for canning and freezing. I lucked on to a major deal at a local grocery store I shop at and it coincided with a windfall of zucchini and other bumper crop donations from a couple of local gardeners I know. I am stiff and sore and my arm, back and shoulder are very tender but my freezer and pantry is full and it gives me a huge grin looking at my destroyed kitchen. I will be able to cook some wonderful meals from the veggies preserved. So many choices: soups and sauces and casseroles and oh the yummy plans of meals to come, meals that I have prepped for to make easy but amazingly tasting dishes. All the hard stuff is done, now 30 minutes or much less and dinner is in the crockpot or on the table and it will taste like I spent all day on it instead of grabbing it out of the freezer and running for the kitchen LOL

WORTH IT!

Happy Monday all, I am going for my second cup of coffee and some well deserved rest. The listing chores will start around 9 a.m. for now, it's coffee and chill. Yep, Happy Monday indeed :)

Question of the Week #61

We have several financial and business questions this week from different members and some have asked to stay anonymous so I'm going to post the questions and a little information as to the background concerning these questions (but no identifying information).

Some of us get Medicare (USA) and are in that and other income based assistance programs. Without these programs we wouldn't be able to get prescriptions or even (some of us) have our insurance co-pay covered. There are both financial limits as to what you can make at both the federal and state level. If your part time income goes above a certain amount you not only lose the coverage from the assistance based program but have to pay back for all the coverage that was provided from the beginning of the year and/or have to pay for coverage out of pocket which is impossible on a fixed income even exceeding the part time income limit (the gap is huge).

So you can’t afford to let your income go above the limit for the state or federal plan.

Yet you know your stuff is good, and you would like to be able to sell it and you are kinda caught between the rock and the hard place.

Questions this week:

Has anyone faced the situation of wanting to sell what is created, but facing the restrictions imposed by income-based assistance programs?

Has anyone found a way to sell and stay under the limits or go above and succeed?

And if you are, please tell us,  how is it going?


And our second set of questions is about the business side of your business:

How does everyone run their business legally, with as little $ as possible?

Can you keep selling at shows, if you have more than 4 years straight losses?

How--with SS# and full name, or with Tax ID?  The IRS.gov lists questions to ask to see if u require tax ID, but says nothing about the 4 yr loss thing (2 accountants have said that), or selling at shows.


Looking forward to hearing your answers!


Please remember to submit your suggestions and questions to: spdychevy@gmail.com with Question in the subject line and we'll get your question up here soon!

Happy Monday to all :)

Short and sweet link to the PCASG Blog

Short and sweet link to the PCASG Facebook Group

Just another day in the trenches...

It's Monday and since "planning day" is traditionally Sunday and I didn't do it, I'm technically starting out already late this week. I didn't feel up to it yesterday----this heat wave is sucking the life out of me on these dead air afternoons so I moved "planning day" back until Monday morning, along with "Question of the Week" (which I did get posted in plenty of time).

Well it's early afternoon and I still haven't even started planning and the heat has descended with a vengeance. I'm not going to stress over it. My huge list of self-imposed tasks can wait while I enjoy life. Today.

Today I realized we are on the back end of Summer. Summer is almost over and there is so much I haven't done because of so much I haven't gotten done. I haven't sat around and enjoyed the sun, the weather, the smell of Summer, the beads of condensation on the glass of iced tea and the purely frivolous reading material... the enjoyment of the season has been put on hold by me because I haven't done so many things that all need to be done before the rain and cold seasons return. All work work work...but no play until done...wait, I can't do that. I can't be that way anymore because I'll never be done which means I will never play again...unless I change how I look at it all.

So this is what I decided to do today. I'm taking my planning notebook outside and setting it within easy reach and I'm going to do some things I want to do so I can have some fun. I want to eat dinner outside at my table like we usually do when the weather is nice but like we haven't been able to because of twenty million other things I have to do before the table can be moved to its "Summer" spot. I'm just going to do it. I'm going to enjoy my gardening efforts--- the tomatoes are just amazing and the peppers are going great guns too :) I'm excited to see the final color of the Cherokee Purples:

while I'm currently enjoying the huge flavor bursts of the tiny but oh so mighty tasty Early Girls:

and I can't wait to see how big the German Striped Tomatoes are going to get. Plus the basil, the lavender and all the other herbs that combine into this aromatic mishmash hodgepodge of an olfactory wonderland when I'm out there weeding, gathering and watering...sigh.... you know what...

I'm not waiting anymore. This post can be done and other stuff can wait...I'm going outside...see ya later! Happy (late) Monday!

Playing around when I've been stuck on the couch lately

 I lose hours sometimes when I'm just playing like this :) I've had a little Halloween fun on the brain recently:

Spider King pendant

I normally don't like spiders but I wanted to see if a could make a "cute" one...one that would be an adorable focal on a necklace. I love this little guy :)

Orange and Black Halloween pendant

Black floral wire (wiped a myriad of times to remove the excess powder from the paint) and some orphan beads. I think I am going to make an orphan bead and black wire chain for this pendant, I really like the way it turned out.

Thank God for Netflix (been watching all kinds of documentaries) and wire, pliers & beads!!!

Happy Wednesday :)

Christmas in July means Halloween (and Thanksgiving) in June

I don't know if you've all heard the phrase "Christmas in July". I have but I have always associated with it differently than the definition found here on Wikipedia: Christmas in July

As to the "Christmas in July" article above, I really don't know much about it and that is not what I am talking about here.

I am talking about a phenomenon that used to exist in the world of periodicals and magazines. I don't know if still exists in this sped up world of easy push button desktop publishing but when I sat down at the end of last December to write down my wishes and goals for the coming year I kept thinking of this marketing preparation concept and how it could relate to increased online sales in my store.

I have been mindful of this marketing preparation because "back in the day" (about 10-15 years ago, lol) in the writing world, this is when print magazines were prepping their holiday features and spreads for the holiday editions. So if you wanted to pitch a Christmas article you needed to be pitching in May because you'd be writing in June for a July article and photo spread deadline. It was the same way with Thanksgiving & Halloween but of course plan even earlier.

I normally don't do much (or any) seasonal specific designs and I usually don't offer them for sale online if I do.

One of my goals on my list concerning my etsy store is to increase my listings and seasonal sales, specifically targeting the three commercially big U.S. holidays in Fall and Winter. AND make and offer seasonal specific jewelry too PLUS all the fun vintage stuff we have been finding to list online as well. (Oh boy do I love the vintage holiday decorations! LOL)

Keeping the "Christmas in July" preparation in mind I planned on designing and making some projects earlier than that to be finished, photographed, inventoried and ready for listing.

Checking the etsy listing length dates was another thing that I had to check and coordinate as I list a shipping deadline for each holiday about 5 business days in advance of each particular holiday. For instance, my shipping deadline for Thanksgiving 2014 (November 27th) is November 20th but the Christmas shipping deadline is a full 7 business days (December 16th) before the actual holiday due to the inevitable "mail crush" that happens to slow up the mail every year. I don't want seasonal listings (unless they are a holiday "overlap" such as Fall/Harvest/Halloween (some) and Thanksgiving) to run past the shipping deadline date. I calculate etsy listing date lengths so that I can tailor my listing end dates to the precise shipping deadline date.

What all this planning and preparation means is that June 15th is my kick off for designing, making, photographing and writing listing copy for the 2014 Holiday season...

If any PCASG member is interested in joining me in this silly adventure of crafting for Fall and Winter in the Summer, please let me know and maybe we could share our progress (or stumbling blocks lol) with each other.

So Happy Halloween in June so to speak :) I'm knee deep in black and orange and pumpkins this afternoon. Hopefully with more pictures and progress updates coming soon :)

Saturday in pictures...

Olympic Mountains, up one side and down the other through the Olympic National Forest looking for prospective camp sites for an upcoming group camp event. The snow is mostly gone and Spring is in full throttle on the ridges and in the valleys. Oh the scenery was amazing :) I took some pics but I didn't get any of the really good stuff, I forgot at times I had my camera I was enjoying looking everywhere so much.

Up the Wynoochee Vally past the dam headed towards the falls

Just one of the many small waterfalls along the road headed back toward Wynoochee Lake & then over towards Satsop Center

Old rail road trestle up past Satsop Center towards Satsop Lakes

It's off in the weeds on the road up towards Satsop Lakes, there is a little road going to camp site by a creek that runs parallel to it. 

We tried tracing it from the larger road but they've cut through the grade so just these remnants. 

Sometimes we go out there to muck around in the woods & look and see if there is another side across the creek. No luck yet, lol

Headed back towards Satsop Center then off towards Spoon Creek Falls & further on towards Spider Lake

The lake is surrounded by tall evergreens in a valley and you can see glimpses of it, peering through the trees and brush, high up on the road but have to walk a steep trail on one end to access it. Pictures of the actual lake next time, I promise, lol

Govey was one of Dad's old work stops, we passed the site of Camp Grisdale going up the Wynoochee side of course but no pics of Grisdale this time.

site of Camp Govey, I'm standing on pavement in all the following pictures.

Still standing on overgrown pavement

still on pavement, looking at a big concrete rectangle

Love the re-bar up against the little sideways growing apple tree... can you see what is left of the paved road I am standing on to the right?

So weird to stand here and try to remember where everything used to be.

Headed down past Govey towards the Skokomish Valley

Almost down into the Skokomish Valley and then heading for food & then home :)

Just a frond off of one of the hugest bunches of ferns I've seen in years. This wasn't even the largest frond! 

Awesome back roads trip and awesome day.

Happy Saturday :)