22nd April 2008

Hell this is fun. I've just typed quite a long blog entry, only for an error to develop, and the whole thing I've typed has just gone awol!!!
So now I have to re-type it and of course it'll be dullsville compared to the masterpiece I just lost - but what the heck. Sorry folks.
Firstly, I called the Ebay hotline this morning, and I've sorted out all the issues with them making me become a 'business' seller - I can keep my private seller status! Yipee! Call them is what I say, speak to them. Nil desperandum and all that.
Then the bulk of my masterpiece blog was taken up with books. Yep, I'm actually spending time going through my bookshelves and carting lots of them off up to the charity shop. I need the space. Well I don't know about you, but I go through the shelves, and then suddenly I find something I fancy re-reading and it goes in this increasingly large pile of 'to be re-reads', and the pile going to the shop shrinks... oh dear. Yep, oh dear. Actually what I'd really like to take to the charity shop is a large quantity of video tapes. I can't bear the thought of throwing them in the bin, the charity shops won't take them because they're not pre-recorded - no these are my own, rather dodgy recorded offerings. (By dodgy I mean recorded on a poorly tuned tv, not dodgy recordings!!) Some of them I wouldn't part with for the world, in fact I'm looking to replace them on DVD, but for the most part, I'm sorry to say, my video library is composed of crap. In fact, thinking about it, what was I thinking of when I recorded stuff like Brideshead Revisited? Frankly I didn't envisage a world with so many tv channels that anything I thought half way decent to watch would be being broadcast symetrically in rote 24 hours a day, 7 days etc...
Talking about re-reading I was just re-reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, and part of this book is the theory that the world is being taken over by kipple (yep, it is kipple, what I'd call kibble I guess), useless junk that doesn't decompose, but piles up over the surface of the world, the planet just becoming more and more kippelised. That's my video library alright, kipple in waiting. In fact it's not really waiting, it's kipple already, occupying space... occupying a perfectly good bookcase that I could really use. Funny how books don't turn into kipple isn't it?!

Saturday 19th April

Unfortunately I've had to spend the better part of today revising all of my Ebay listings to comply with what appears to be a change in the rules regarding 'business' listings. I'm not even sure that I have to do this, but I've read their postings about the requirements, and I appear to fall within the category of those who have to 'become' a business. Admittedly, I have to speak to them before I go the whole hog, but I make and sell items so therefore I should become a business.
Heavens but this is really giving me quite a bit of jip. You see, when I started doing all this, I definitely had it in mind that I would sell these things for profit - and I pretty much sort of cover my costs. Yes well, reading that, I guess you can figure that I don't. Thing is if I calculated everything to the very last penny, and charged things appropriately, I'd be in a devil of a bind. I don't think I'd sell very much for a start, or certainly a good deal less than I do - I've even had emails off people suggesting that I should lower my prices as it is! Actually I have to say that I think they - these people that send such emails - clearly are living in cloud cuckoo land, and should go take a running jump. I'm not a professional jeweller here. I enjoy making things, but I'm not under any illusion that I'm running some kind of successful business - you might conceivably call it a micro-business, and I do make a little bit of extra money that comes in toward the end of the month when I need it to tide me over to next payday. But if you tot all of this up, the fees, the supplies, the time (and I've had endless discussions with people about what exactly if anything should be charged for time!) - add on to this the costs of the packing materials, the postage - I'm shelling money out over this. Not enough so that I can't afford it, but I do quite resent Ebay telling me that I have to become a 'business'. What I really resent most about this is that there are privacy implications in this, and I also have to put up that I'm prepared to refund anyone who returns items within 14 days of receipt, for any reason whatsoever. Ye Gods, it's not like people are spending a fortune with me.
Don't get me wrong here, I've always accepted returns. Especially if something arrived damaged, or if it broke or whatever - it's just putting this down in writing makes me feel that I'm suddenly going to be deluged in people buying stuff off me, it arriving with them, and they're using it, and then deciding to send it back. Especially things like earrings. What guarantee do I have against being ripped off? It just all makes me feel a bit less enthusiastic about what I do. It's so bureaucratic - I see my 'business' as a permanent electronic craft stall, not some kind of 'business'. Maybe that's my fault, maybe I should be more business-like about it, but I'm not. And this whole rule and regulation bit has got me quite riled up.

Tuesday 15th March

I think we've been lucky here in Bristol, 'cos we've got a nice sunny day out there, and by all accounts, many people are having steady and continuous showers! I say this with great thanks, since I've been to the post office, and to the supermarket today - I feel like I'm getting myself back together and in order, after a weekend's worth of night shifts. In fact I've been doing nights for most of this month so far, and I'm completely disorientated with regard to days of the week, and what the actual date is - I can only hope that the above date is right! Just to disorientate myself further, I'm actually doing a day shift this week - just the single one, so it's going to be touch and go if I wake up when the alarm goes off! I don't know if anyone reading this has experience of a rolling rota that covers a 24 hour shift pattern, but it is hell when you're trying to get yourself back on a daytime track when you've been doing nights for a while.

Anyhow, what else have I been up to? Actually I've just made some small bagcharms, that I'm really very happy with. I'm not going to put them on sale until probably the start of next month or so, but I have to say they're exactly what people need for spring. That's of course not to say that what I've got on sale now isn't just as good! Check these out, all of them going onto Ebay:

On the left is a yellow and orange bagcharm, (auction start at £2.50) which goes on sale on the 19th April, it's made with lots of little glass nuggets, and a spotted orange and black lampwork bead at the base; the long purple bagcharm (auction starts at £3.00) next to it goes on sale on the 23rd April, named as 'Purple Glory'.

These two underneath, are a small purple bagcharm - Mini purple bagcharm goes on sale on the 18th April (auction starts at £2.50) , and the fuschia pink mobile or ipod charm starts selling on the 21st. This auction starts at £2.50, and the charm is packed with Swarovski Crystal beads!

Monday 7th April 2008

Well been a while since I blogged here! Oops! Actually not so much oops, as I've been really busy.
So what's new? I've got new glasses that's what, varifocals. Frankly right now, I do actually feel like throwing the wretched things away, but I'm sticking with it. They just make me feel drunk every time I look down, or get up to walk anywhere - it's that awful moment before the whole room goes whirling round about you, and you just know you're about to vomit spectacularly. It's not like this all the time - and I haven't actually thrown up, or collapsed in a heap, but they are something of a trial. And they make my eyes quite sore and puffy - I've been giving myself cold water compresses late at night! And I was awfully shocked when I went to get them. I'd expected - well I wasn't thrilled with the frames I'd chosen, but I thought I'd done the best of a bad job, there wasn't a lot of choice. I'd chosen all of my options - I went for the Reactolite lenses, that go black in sunlight. I desperately wanted a pair of sunglasses for when it's strong sunlight out there - I hadn't quite bargained for the quality of overcastness that this imparts to the averagely sunny day, but what the heck, I wanted the sunglass effect and they do go back to being clear really quite quickly. I chose specially thin lenses - I have to with my prescription, I have a minus 10 + in both eyes. I was told I had to choose a bigger pair of frames than I would have normally gone for, because the varifocal effect needs the bigger lens size. What of course, I'd completely forgotten is that even with the compressed lens, at the larger size, they of course look like the bottom of glass bottles. Lord only knows what they'd look like if they weren't the compressed variety. The only thing that I totally forgot was to get them anti-reflectively coated, and of course I now have little light circles appearing all over - I'm a wee bit cross that they didn't pick up that I had this in my old pair, because they'd checked out my old prescription. But you can't expect everything, and I should have remembered to mention it myself. And given that I'd forgotten, I actually wonder whether I could have afforded it - they cost a fortune. Anyhow, they're here now, and I have to persevere. They are great for reading and close work, which is a good thing, and not bad for the computer either - I just have to get used to the walking and moving bit.

So what else have I been up to? Lots of night shifts recently, trying to earn a bit of overtime. I have a holiday coming up, we're taking Mum away for the week. We've hired a cottage in Dorset, a National Trust one, with full adaptations for the disabled, so we're all set. But a bit of spending money will come in handy! I went over to have lunch with the family today, and getting there was a bit of a palaver - the Limpley Stoke Viaduct is closed, so there's a little shuttle bus, and you get off at the old Viaduct pub and walk through the works, and another little shuttle bus reverses up the sharp little incline to the traffic lights - the road is totally closed, nothing can get through, so there's no traffic for it to make it's way through, but it has to be escorted by a workman on foot! You get on and off it sets, along the normal route - it's a bit of excitement in an otherwise mundane journey I suppose!
I'm still working on my image transfer project, and not getting very far - well, I'm getting towards becoming presentable with it, and when I do I promise to do a how to on the blog.

I've been doing a lot of reading. When I came back through Bath, I stopped off at the Heart Foundation Charity shop, and I was lucky enough to pick up a paperback of "The Death of Dalziel" which I'm thoroughly enjoying. No doubt it'll make a splendid tv show in due course! I can't wait to see if they're going to show Dalziel in a coma in intensive care, or dancing at the Mirely Mecca with Tilly Trotter! That one could believe, but the floating and somersaulting through the air would be something to see. Anyhow another cup of coffee is calling my name, I can hear it from here...!

28th March 2007

At least I think it's the 28th. I've been confused as to what the date is all week, ever since my Monday was actually Tuesday if you see what I mean - bank holidays eh?

Well, my new craft oven has arrived. It fits on the shelf in the kitchen by the window perfectly, so I can have the window open whilst I bake the stuff, and hopefully all of the nasty fumes will go straight out - however, I have since heard that Fimo only produces toxic fumes if you bake it at above 200 degrees. There's some dispute about this, but basically if you stick to the instructions you shouldn't have too many problems.
Of course having gone to all this trouble, my first attempt at image transfer failed dismally - I used the wrong sort of paper. At least I hope that this is what was actually the problem. I'm about to have another go, having reprinted my images on photo paper. In fact, printing out a contact sheet actually results in the photo's being exactly the right size. Size was something else I had to experiment with - had to resize every single one! Still fingers crossed eh? If it works, I'll put a tutorial/how to up on here, and you could all have a go if you fancy it!

Anyhow, it having been payday recently, I've also bought myself a little treat off Amazon - Justine Picardies' Daphne. It arrived today. It looks like a most interesting novel - it's about Daphne Du Maurier, at the time of her husbands' breakdown (I think they eventually separated, but I can't really remember), when she was attempting to write a biography of Branwell Bronte. She had some correspondence with various members of the Bronte Society, including one who's supposed to have been involved in some sort of literary forgery - of course, I haven't a clue as to whether any of this has any kind of foundation in reality, but it's an amusing conceit. I'll let you know whether the book's any good or not when I've read a bit of it!

Wednesday 19th March 2008

Oh Woe is me.... I feel like a little old woman as I type this, I've just finished two night shifts, and for some reason - probably sitting more or less still for a night, my back feels like it's been put on a rack. I staggered off to the Post Office - thinking the exercise will soon get rid of this - and then round Sainsbury's, and I feel even worse. Struggling home with two bags worth of Easter Eggs (and I'll get round to the price of those in a minute!) I felt like I was 90. I think I'm going to have to have a good twenty to thirty minute hot shower before bed tonight, and see how it goes. I'm hoping to go to stay over in Winsley for the weekend - fingers crossed. But if this keeps up this way, I'm going to be stuck at home, exercising. I have a whole range of physio exercises which are supposed to prevent this sort of thing from happening, but I must have got stuck in an unfortunate position or something.
Anyhow, the eggs. I quite fancied something fancier than your average Cadbury whatever style egg, but when I got to the shop and saw the prices - forget it. For basically a very small amount of chocolate, and an overly inflated idea of what constitutes decoration, I'll stick with the bog standard. I bought my friends' little girl two lovely little squishy toys - I tend not to buy her chocolate, because once you've got that sweet tooth - well it's like the old saw at Xmas and dogs isn't it? A sweet tooth isn't just for Easter, it's for life. Having one myself I can well testify to this! Anyhow, I got her just the cutest little chicken in an egg - velour of course, with a zip you open and out comes the cutest little chick. And all little girls love soft fluffy toys, I think, for a good wee while!

I don't know about you, but I've been watching the tv reports of what's been going on over in Tibet. Emotionally, one hopes that the Tibetans will be able to free themselves of Chinese rule, but at the same time, one fears the Chinese reactions. And above all, I don't want to see the Dalai Lama resign - although I admit, I wouldn't have thought that he could. I suppose he can resign his political role - it seems so unfair that this good man is so constantly blamed by the Chinese for any and all problems with Tibet. He's always struck me as one of the few world leaders that you look at, and instinctively know, is a good man. But the Chinese don't seem to be given to negotiation - historically, they don't seem to have had much experience of it. God knows, as a Brit, we've got enough history with the Chinese to feel thoroughly ashamed of ourselves - but one can only hope for a peaceful settlement in this situation. I've always found the Chinese to be a fascinating and interesting people, in whatever phase of their history they're in, and I'd like to see them take more part in the world after such an incredible period of isolationism. But I think their government really has to accept that indigenous peoples deserve autonomy. Oh well, enough pontificating from me, God knows what right I've got to go sounding off about it!

Saturday extra!

I listed the necklace on Etsy, so you could scoot on over there to look at it - and some spring reductions too!!

Check out the necklace -

Fifteen dollars on Etsy!