Early Christmas From Omaha!

That is correct!  We were greeted today with a Styrofoam container holding the world famous Omaha Steaks!   We are VERY excited!   Not entirely about the meat… BUT the DRY ICE!  

Whenever I’m in the presents of Dry Ice,  I revert back to my child hood and just have to play with it.  I mean,  from purely an academic  perception,  The chemical properties that allow we humans to create such a substance is AWESOME!. 

So, other than chilling the steaks,  what purpose could dry ice serve to entertain?   Why,  You put it in water and create fog in your sink!   DUH! 

Am I that simple that I can be amused so easily?   Well, DUH!  

I’m not the only one either,   Cheryl was quite amazed.  It’s not everyday that she can be impressed with anything I do.   I could not believe  she had a childhood where she was not yelled at by the pastor for throwing large chunks of Dry Ice in the creek behind the church during the church picnic.  I seriously thought EVERY child had done that at least several times in their life.  Perhaps it was an experience that was unique to us Lutherans.

Anyway,  We received the steaks from Cheryl's brother.   I guess that means we will have to do better than Baby Swiss next year.  Actually the Baby Swiss is very good!  So much so that we had to order more for ourselves!   And now with the steaks, ( and hotdogs and burgers) I can’t wait to have some great Swiss and meat combinations.   MMMmmmm Goood!

Stocking Slow Down.

        Finally,  I think things are slowing down on this side.   Yesterday we still were in the 20’s for stockings.   I was actually a little happy for the continued sales.  However,  today we only sold 12, several of which were already made so we ended up getting them all done before noon.   That was rather nice, having the afternoon open to visit Iowa City and run the FULL 4 mile loop.   Cheryl put in the longest run yet…even in this cold! 

In the brief time between stockings and sleep.   I have been folding a few simple origami for Ohio to judge.  We shall see what they think about them and how the next installment will turn out.   As for tonight,  I believe I’m going to take it easy for the rest of the night as I suddenly am very tired…..Even though I have been drinking coffee and pop all day.  I guess caffeine can affect you in the opposite way sometimes….Ah well.  

Big Finish?

An entire weekend of steady sales and things are now beginning to slow down…a bit.   We still managed to do over 20 tonight….and each time we continue to get slower instead of faster.   Perhaps it is the holiday fatigue that is finally catching up with us.   With only about a week left before the end, I’m still half hoping we can ramp up the sales and pull off a miracle to catch the previous year..but the other half is ready to be done and take a full week off from everything.  I guess I should simply pick myself up and rally forth….but for now,  I’m happy  to have the rest of the night off to catch up on some much needed zzzz’s

I’m not sure, but I think we sold 25 yesterday, and perhaps slightly more than that on Saturday.   I can’t even remember my last blog post!  Just a quick shout out to future Ethan and Cheryl.    Hopefully you made the Dog breeds work this time!  

In the mean time,  I was planning on folding up some ideas for Ohio Financial.   They finally sent me a picture of the koi as they have them displayed.  They are awesome.  However,  Cheryl has urged me to hold off on showing them on the blog.  I’m not sure who else reads this blog …Other than Future Cheryl and Ethan….Oh  and perhaps Barb and Dave from ACT.  Still,   I would hate to spoil the surprise when the magazine comes out for the investors.  I’ll just have to be a tease until then.  

Other than that, it is raining here in Iowa and the temp has been a pleasant 54 degrees and overcast with a slight mist.  Cheryl continues to break her previous records for the 5K .   The warmer weather helps a bit when there is no wind. 

I’m actually looking forward to the thunderstorms they are predicting tonight.  I love falling asleep to thunder.   I guess I’m odd in that I find loud noises calming. 

Happy Friday! Stocking Lovers!

    For the last couple of days, we have been at a fairly consistent level of sales.  34 stockings  yesterday and 30 for today. It is actually more,   but  Cheryl packs up a certain number of “easy” ones that are already made and ships them off in the morning with the previous night’s batch.

We failed to receive our felt order today…which causes us a little anxiety going into the weekend.   I guess the only color we are short of is the Aqua Blue…which happens to be popular today!  Hopefully we will make it to Monday and the felt will arrive and no one will be the wiser that we are under stocked on a certain color…Or perhaps they could just order a substitute.

I’m not sure what it means this year,  but Target was unusually more busy than normal.   The employee volunteered that they were projecting this weekend to be bigger than the previous two in sales numbers!   Perhaps people are waiting for to the last minute for deals….or just to do their Christmas Shopping because they have plenty of money.  Wouldn’t that be cool!   I’m all for a happy economy as much as any one else is.  Perhaps some of that good will will rub off on our microscopic Etsy shop.

Other than that,  we have just been doing our best to stay on top  of the sales and answer the questions that may translate into a sale.  Cheryl has been pretty consistent in breaking her 5K run times on a daily basis.   I guess the pleasant weather is probably a factor.  It is nice running in cool weather that is not overly windy or chilly.      As for me.  I ride along side her with my bike….stopping to feed the horses, cows, and dogs we meet along the way.   I’m not getting much of a work out, but biking has become a little easier now that I’m back in the saddle  ( pun intended)

Hope everyone is having a great weekend….well,  those who are reading this anyway.  I guess everyone else as well. 

By the way,  today’s beer is a hoppy one from Goosehead Brewery Chicago.   Cheryl and I have been craving a hoppy beer ever since we bought that Christmas beer filled with caramel sweet notes and  spices.   The Strong citrus taste of the hops help relax and revive us a bit after a long day of sewing.   Add in some Baby Swiss Cheese from the Swiss Colony and you have a wonderfully simple reward for your taste buds after a long work day.  

The Quest for Larger Stockings.

Why not?   We seem to be doing every other whim this year.  Why not do larger stockings because our traditional size is too small….

The problem arises whenever you mess with the way things have been carefully created so as to give balance to the stockings, the item on the stockings, and the buttons that are used for  eyes, nose, etc.   We decided to give it a go and change ONLY the stocking and keep the animals the same size as the smaller one.  Then the snowflake buttons are selected by being the top three sizes.

I personally dislike it when people have to mess with a Jenga Tower of perfection.  Once you start pulling at the sides,  things can go south pretty quickly.

And then there is the Price….It is true that for every large stocking we make,  we are not able to make two of the smaller ones because of the way the felt bolt is set up. Besides that,  the snowflake buttons and embroidery all take more time.   However,  we may have found a way to balance things out temporarily. 

Behold!   The new larger 20” stocking.  

At the end of the day, I can be won over with Price.   If someone is willing to pay more for the effort and resources…then I’m happy to oblige.

So bottom line, I think they turned out “ok”.   They are still a nit more of an effort to work with that much material bunched up under my machine…but I managed somehow.  Cheryl seems pretty happy for the moment and is thinking about adding them in next year…since everything is going to be “made to order” anyway.   We shall see because we had this same discussion last year.   We Always have these discussions and whether they ever become reality is left to the customer anyway….

So 20 stockings today.  We were pretty much finished by 5:30 tonight.  A pleasant surprise for the moment as there are a number of other things we simply have not had time for that need to be done. namely…Ordering more black buttons! 

Saved by the Felt!

  Felt finally arrived today…but not before we had to discontinue several colors.   Cheryl put in the order on time…but the guy at the felt place did not get the order.   I imagine it is busy there as well, so a minor lapse is understandable.  Luckily, Cheryl called to check up on it on Friday…and place another order.   As a result…they all came today in one large box.   We still are down a couple of colors, but I think we will survive for now at least.   At least Cheryl was happy for a brief moment….

Today was a little easier with only about 20 stockings to make.   It was a LOT easier than yesterday.  However,  perception is everything and even thought we are finished…it is still 8 pm and Cheryl is grumpy  because she wanted to get more free time on such and “easy” day.   Making the stockings as the orders come in is Always difficult and time consuming.   With more dogs and cats in this batch….Cheryl was forced to cut out many of them and her machine’s light bulb burned out so she was forced to switch to her new machine.    Then that Machine kept “binding up” at various points in the sewing process.   That made her even more grumpy!  It would not be as much “"fun” if everything went according to plan with no problems.

So now it is Beer Time!   A special Holiday Christmas Beer is on the agenda.   The Christmas beer tends to taste a little like the Ommegang beer with a spicy, malty flavor.   Cheryl is not impressed….not that it was bad!  just not what was expected.  Then again…Beer tends to make most things slightly better….Unless you are an alcoholic.   Then I guess beer doesn’t help much.

So there it is!     Hopefully I will be able to replace the light bulb in her Machine tomorrow and we can switch back to her Regular machine.  I’m not sure what is going on with the Red Hello Kitty machine….but it tends to bind up when doing stocking tops.  I’m sure it just needs to be broken in….( with out Actually Breaking it) The turquoise Hello Kitty machine is her favorite and simplest to figure out.  It still runs fine….just in the dark. 

42 Stocking Monday.

A quick post as it is currently 12:14 in the AM and I’m still wired, but have to wind down before it gets even more late. 

So first:   We finally finished 42 stockings…..as the title of this post suggests.   Mondays are always rather frantic.  Maybe it is because people have had the entire weekend to settle in and Sunday they log on and surf for Christmas stuff they could not find at the mall.   Who knows?   What I DO know is when I looked at this very blog a year ago, Past Ethan and Cheryl were having the same problems we are currently having.  We may be down in sales slightly from last year, but the numbers and the troubles were about the same as this year.  And who knows!   There is still time left this year to pull off a miracle and perhaps catch up to last years number.   We shall see.    Then again, That would mean even more days like today…..Hmmmm..

  The night was going smoothly,  we had our errands in Iowa City   ( probably should have stayed home today though) When we got back,  The Sewing machine I was geeking about a few days ago….decided to get back to being fussy.   Luckily I finished the day using the back up sewing machine….but not before Cheryl's “Hello Kitty” machine decided to suddenly stop before the last 8 stockings had their tops on!   What to do!

Well.  After slugging through the last few stockings and finishing up the order….and having way too much afternoon coffee.  I decided it was time for “Handy Man Allen” to work his magic!   I decided to work on Cheryl's machine first.  easy enough….She has thread wrapped around the tension arm that causes the machine to sieze up.   A couple of cotter pins and and a quick brush and the machine should be good as new! 

About an hour later….I finally have the cotter pins off…and the entire machine sprawled all over my area.  But the string is clear and the machine moves like normal.  I reassemble and wipe everything down.  only to plug it in and have it NOT WORK!   No Lights, No humm……nothing.    Cheryl was not very impressed. 

I take it apart,  look things over….decide nothing is broken and plug it back in….It WORKS!   no Idea why it was messing with me. 

Time to fix mine.   Take it apart. ( I’m a champ by now) And find that the tension disk has slid off a small guide arm….causing it to pinch and release the thread at inappropriate moments.   ( namely…when putting on buttons)   Hopefully I finally have that one fixed and we can run the special button machine once more. 

And finally.   Godzilla was a DUD!   Maybe if I was 8 years old again…. but as an adult I guess I’m thinking that the story could have been done much better.  in the end….monsters destroy everything…Godzilla fights them and…after winning,  retires to the pacific once more.  I’m not sure…but I think there were actors in that movie.  I guess I’m nostalgic for guys in rubber suits having a wrestle mania in a miniature model city…

When 30 stockings are “Easy”

  That is correct….we sold 30 stockings today and only had to make 17 ( roughly) from beginning to end.   Many of the sold orders were already made in advance.   SEE!  It CAN be easy with ADVANCE PREP WORK!   ( That was a message to future Cheryl and Ethan….I would not raise my voice…or my caps to anyone other than myself after all)

There were a number of things to note about today.  First:  Besides having many of the stocking orders pre-made,   There were NO DOGS today.   I know the dogs are difficult to make….not really for me, but for Cheryl.   She not only has to cut each part out by hand, but also has to sew over several layers of felt stacked up on top of each other.   The Allenbrite way is to keep things simple!   Dogs are NOT simple to make.

There is a debate as to how we should handle this issue for the future.   The first, and very popular idea, is to stop doing stockings altogether!    That not only eliminates the problem of custom dogs, but All custom orders,  felt and button inventory, tax evasion, Etsy Fees,  Work areas, Late work nights with no compensation or overtime.   Basically it solves ALL of the problems we currently face.  …..Except the money issue.

So that Idea is most likely out the window unless we find some means of full employment.   And since we hate working,   that is equally as unlikely.  Do you now see what an impossible situation we are in?

So the second choice is to raise our prices on custom orders.  However,  Humans are wily!  They find ways of making you do their custom stockings and go around the procedure that we clearly have spelled out.  It is like playing chess with someone who claims to not know the rules, but then puts you in check mate in 4 moves! 

So enough complaining…..For now.  The main thing is that it appears that we are getting more of the Christmas minded people back into the shop and they are ordering the items we have made in advance.   We are currently behind last years sales numbers…so what we are feeling  seems to not be only in our heads.  There are roughly two weeks left to make as much as we can.    And,  with a little luck,  Custom orders will dwindle and we can capitalize on our invested labor.   We shall see.

 

As for tonight….with our new found time,  We plan on watching Godzilla!   The latest big budget monster movie.   I used to be a big fan of the Japanese versions back in the day of Saturday afternoon  “Creature Feature” on Channel 50 Detroit!  All kinds of cool movies for grade-schoolers to watch and have nightmares about.   Or, play Godzilla and destroy your brother’s city landscape he built out of Lincoln Logs. ( I still remember that!  Eric!)