Busy Busy Busy!

Gearing up for the Christmas season and a bit of fall items will be mixing in soon. I never thought that I would be speaking of Christmas at the end of July! Normally I'm very adamant about not celebrating or preparing for Christmas before Thanksgiving, I'm a traditionalists in that manner, but ever since I've opened on Etsy there's been this stirring of a gathering retail frenzy that I find, well, exciting!So I've been creating new items to post in my shop, more stuffed creations, a few tags, more tea totes. They are all ready to list once the Christmas retail season hits which from what I've heard should be close to September/October.I've set a personal goal of 5 sales for August, I will have 4 for July. I know to alot who may read this may think that 5 sales is not a lot, but I'm starting to get my footing and my fan base is growing. I want to leap, but I don't think I'm close enough to the "Etsy-edge" yet lol. So 5 sales feels like an achieveable goal :)Also I made my first stuffed creation last night using the EcoCraft fiberfill. I must say it's very soft and doesn't feel as abrasive as polyfil, but it's very fluffy and tends to float away in tiny bits. By the end of stuffing my felt animal I was lightly dusted in fiberfill. I might suggest wearing a mask to help keep pesky fibers from filling your nose. I had a bit of sneezing fit when I first started, but all was well shortly after.

Turn the water off!

I think I'm lost in the whole, remember to turn the water off while you brush thing. I don't know why it's so hard to remember to do it.Maybe it's because I just want to be able to spit and rinse it away immediately. Maybe it's the germaphob coming out in me.Whatever it is I should be more mindful of it.Also we don't have a dishwasher so we do all of our dishes by hand. This isn't a big deal, but I have to wonder if i'm just wasting water doing it by hand than by machine? I don't run the water constantly when I'm doing the dishes so I can't see us using a whole lot of it at once. Not sure.Also I made a new stuffie today ^_^ check him out tomorrow on Etsy. He's a black cat stuffed with felt scraps that were too small to use for anything other than stuffing :)Have a good evening, it's about to storm over by us so I need to dash off the computer here.........

Battle of the 4-10's

I've been a long time advocate of being able to work 4 10 hr work days. Now before anyone starts yelling, OMG! are you nuts?! Here's the reasons:- Most people who work full time already devote this amount of time to their job anyways without even realizing it. It's become the "norm". We've learned to work thru lunch, eat at our desks, stay a little "after" hours. All this averages out to 10 hrs a day!- Most companies would benefit from this kind of rotational extra day off. Lending to more rested employees & less time off due to being exhaustion/sickness/general blahs- Then there's the environmental pluses. Less carbon emissions due to fewer commuters on the road. Buildings would be on stand-by so less energy from running a/c's to running computers would be used. AKA it saves energy and money. What company doesn't want to SAVE money?- But my biggest reason is because it would save me gas!At first my urging of management to consider this wasn't purely eco-friendly. I just wanted to have a random day off. I didn't care when it happened, that illusion of having 3 days instead of 2 seemed much better.However, with our purchase of a house last year and my increased commute time :-( This has become about my gas usage and the fact that our public transportation is a minus in the ease of use realm. Car pooling isn't in real heavy use around my parts either so that option bombed early on.I've been searching for closer employement as driving 30-50 min (traffic dependant) each morning/afternoon really sucks. Not to mention should gas continue it's epic climb I'll soon be like many others, working just to pay for gas to GET to work.Our company hasn't exactly been kind on this idea. Regardless if Utah is issuing a statewide test run of this very idea for their state employees. http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/06/utah_four_day_work_week.php I mean there are definitely 2 sides to whether or not this is a good idea. Read the comments under that article and you'll see what I mean. Just about everyone of those comments are very valid and have good points.A whole state is giving it the ol' go and our company is sitting here with their thumbs up their butt trying to determine if this is really a "feasible" option.Please. Like the benefits don't already outweigh the cons on this one. I will continue to lightly nudge and see what comes of it. I heard it may be addressed again in the Fall of this year. I wish progress wasn't so slow to take hold in these parts.

Plastic Paradise

Yesterday was grocery shopping day. We've wrangled a nice collection of those cloth market bags that seem to be springing up everywhere. They're incredibly nice when you have a lot to carry. Not only do they hold much more than the average plastic bag, but they're strong and way more durable.Walking thru the store picking up my usual items I realized that everything I looked at was in some way covered in plastic. I felt kind of sad. I mean there's a plastic landmass in the Pacific Ocean and here I am buying plastic merchandise. I stood there and thought for a second. Well I can't eliminate ALL the plastic I consume, but I can control it at least.So with that in mind I opted to keep my bananas out of the flimsy produce bag. I bought applesause in a glass jar instead of in the snack packs, which was remarkably CHEAPER by 50 cents! I found juice in a glass bottle (same brand & flavor) for the same price as a plastic one.Unfortunately I realized that all this "concious" avoidance of plastic was taking up time. I also realized that wouldn't be able to avoid EVERYTHING plastic. I don't think anyone can these days. My total bill was about equal to what I've already been spending so avoiding the stuff certainly didn't seem to impact my wallet.It's not possible to eliminate it right now, at least not for me. I know you can always recycle it, but glass seems to be a better option than promoting the plastic industry recycled or not.I do have some fabulous friends over at Etsy who are making it a little easier to take the "P" out of my life. :lol:fabric sandwhich bags & wraps: http://www.gnomeclothes.etsy.com/produce bags: http://www.kootsac.etsy.com/ and http://www.amkdesigns.etsy.com/My next step is to find out if buying fresh cut meat from my local meat shop will not be wrapped in plastic but instead in butcher paper where I can take it home and foil it instead. I don't know if this will work, but I'm stepping it up. Plus I'll be supporting the local industry ^_^