My Etsy Shop has reopened.

I was going to reopen my Etsy Shop on July 1st...
but I hurt my back during the move
and I really needed to stop trying to unpack...sort out...put up
and all of the things that go along with moving to a new home.

So...I opened it back up today.
Hopefully it will give me enough to do
so that I am okay with taking a little more time
to get everything
'just right'.

I don't have anything new just yet...maybe after the 4th of July.

I finally have Internet Installed...

It seems like it's been 'forever' since I've had

internet or cable TV.

I finally got the internet installed....YAY!!!....so I don't 

feel as isolated as I've felt pretty much this whole month.

TWC couldn't come out right away...due to getting backed up

over Memorial Day week-end...so..by the time

they could get here...

I'd already signed up for Direct TV for my Television

and so TWC got reduced to internet only.

But...it ended up being way cheaper in the long run

to go with the Direct TV over the TWC cable TV...

hopefully it will be as great as they say it is.

I'm still wading though a lot of boxes....the new place is much smaller...

and I threw my back out during the moving and unpacking...

right now I can hardly move and bending over is a whole other story.

So...it looks like the boxes aren't going to be all sorted out anytime soon.

I won't reopen my Etsy Shop until some time in July...

I really have to find and organize everything.

I can't believe how this move has kind of turned everything 'upside down'...

I'm having to find new places for all of my 'stuff'...which includes

all the 'stuff' I use in my Etsy business.

But...it IS coming together...slowly but surely!

I've moved but....

...I still don't have reliable internet service installed yet.

I've been in my new house for two weeks now and this is the first

time I've been able to connect to an unsecured wireless network in my

new neighborhood....

I didn't have that option at my old place.

Anyway...I called to have my service transferred

and was told I had to pay my bill completely...including the June bill

(I called in May)

before they could transfer service.....but, they said....

they'd continue to bill me at the old address.

Well....long story short...I have totally cancelled service

with them.

I'll be going with a new provider...

I've spent much of the last two weeks trying to resolve

the issue with TWC...as I've been with them since

1997...

evidently that doesn't count for anything.

I'm hoping the new provider will be much more reliable than

TWC has been...

keeping my fingers crossed and sending out a prayer or two.

In the meantime though...

I've placed my Etsy Shop on vacation...

Jaime tried to run her shop and mine...and found both

shops were being neglected.

(I posted a picture of her and her cat...'Crookshanks'.)

So...I decided it would be better for me to settle in

without having to worry about a lot of shipping...correspondence...etc.

I did decide to put a couple of my paintings

in the kids' eBay site...

jut to see what happened.

I don't really have to do anything..unless one or more of them sells.

We'll just have to see.

It's Been a Strange Week!

Anyone who visits my Etsy Shop

probably knows, by now, that I'm "on vacation!"

I Wished I were on vacation...just kicking back and relaxing.

Instead...I've been remaking/reprinting all of the

International orders that never reached their destinations,

as well as everything else that has been ordered since.

After getting so many notes about missing packages...

and with business as slow as it's been..

it just seemed like the best solution for me was

to just pull everything in the Shop and put it 'on vacation',

so I could get EVERYTHING printed,

made, packaged and shipped

all at once!

So...that's what I've been doing.

I won't reopen until ALL of my packages are

on their way to their respective owners.

In the meantime...

I've made some other decisions.

As per my last post...

all of my International packages will have to be

sent Priority mail from now on.

The first class International mailings were just too stressful, on so many levels.

There is really no good way to track those packages and

they are the only ones that I have to actually take to the post office.

Since I don't have a car...that has always been problematic for me.

Either I have to send them with someone else or get someone to take me

and the packages to the post office.

(It all worked fine until Ryan moved to North Dakota. Now I have to wait

until one of my other kids have some time in their own busy schedules

to do it for me.)

Can we see the timing issues in this arrangement???

Anyway....that problem solved...and I do apologize to my

International friends, as there are some items that won't be available

for International shipping (like the Tile pendants or mini prints)

Another decision I made...

I no longer offer bookmarks...

for reasons similar to shipping.

These have to be laminated 

(another thing Ryan did for me each week)

and so I have to wait until I get them from Jaime and then

find a way to get to Staples to get them laminated.

Just too much trouble for me at this time.

I'm cutting back on everything in the Etsy Shop...to make it a bit more

manageable.

I've put all of my 'non-character' paintings in my

CMZ Art Bonanza Shop

and I'll be giving a lot more attention to this shop and some

of the other shops that are really needing my attention,

which means that I won't be listing new items as frequently

in my Etsy Shop.

 Hopefully all of the work I've done this week will make my 

life...and my business...a lot easier to manage

when I reopen the Shop next week.

 

On 'Vacation'

Okay...I HAD to do it...I just fell too far

behind in my Shipping and I still have

a couple of Commissioned paintings to finish...

so...

I've put my Rustic Goth Etsy Shop

on vacation

until I am ALL caught up.

Hopefully that will be by this coming week-end!!

I've left my Non-Etsy Shops open...as I'm not nearly as busy on those sites!

I LOVE my 'job'...but...

I LOVE my 'job' but...

there are days (and sometimes weeks)

that I really wished I could just

take a week or two off.

Why don't you?...you say.

Because...if I don't work..I don't make

what I need to pay my bills.

I have been thinking of

taking a couple weeks..that I don't take on

any special orders..

then...I'll post an announcement in my shop

that I am on vacation

and will fill orders AFTER I return.

Or..maybe I'll just hold on until

the Fouth of July week-end.

I really am going out of town that week-end..

kind of a mini-vacation with my

late husband's family.

Shop Update...

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I have been working hard
creating and 're-creating' new pieces
for my Rustic Goth Etsy Shop.

I decided to put the shop
"on-vacation"
during the week that I knew my cable
would be intermittent.
(I think it isn't working any better now
than it was before...)

At that time, I was just going to
relist everything that was already in the shop
once my internet problems were corrected.
But...once I was 'removed' from the
daily operation of running the shop...it occurred to me
that I really need to make some changes.
So....I have!
A few of the old pieces will be
returned to the shop...
but quite a few pieces will no longer be
available in my Etsy Shop.

I wanted to have everything ready by July 1st...
then...
we received an 'invite' to go out of state..
to visit extended family during the week-end of the 4th.

Since I will actually be
On Vacation
I'm not sure if I will open my shop on the 1st...
(UPDATE -- I did re-open my Shop on the 2nd...)
or wait until I get back.
Or...knowing myself as I do...
I could just decide..
"what the heck...just reopen the shop
and fill it as I get pieces completed"...
..you just 'never know' with me..
I guess I'd better decide soon!