Busy weekend!

Ok, so two days of carving and I finally have a little time to post. Basically, I have been getting done with the seats at around 5 am for the last couple of days and have just not felt like blogging after it is all done. I have only enough energy to maybe watch a movie then head off to bed. so here is what you have missed. We ran out of boxes, the 32 seats are now gone! Cheryl's shop is almost totally out of stuff, and the temp has dropped from 45 to 12 degrees. Freezing the doors and windows of my car. Oh! and before I forget....think twice before ever putting stop leak into your radiator. It probably WON'T stop the leak but it WILL Stop your car from ever getting warm in the middle of winter. Just trust me on this, it's the stop leak, not the thermostat or any thing else.

People are beginning to panic as the big day approaches. Cheryl sewed up 21 wrist lets and has only a handful left after only two days! She was going to make more stockings, but after a little forward thinking, she estimated that they would not be listed in time for anyone to get them by Christmas. Better planning for next year, I guess. I discovered another ingenious plan to help me get more mileage out of my Dremel bits. It's very exciting, but I will have to blog about it later when I have pictures.

Origami Friday!

Yesterday we took the Kitten to the vet to get his shots and set up a "fixing" appointment for him. Cheryl and I are now going to a vet in Grand Rapids, even though it is 45 Minutes away. Our closest vets (there are three within a stones throw of our house) only helps kill cats and they charge an arm and a leg to do so. ( can you detect a bit of bitter sarcasm?) We both feel that we can trust the Grand Rapids vet with our loved ones. Well, Hiro has a cold, so he did not get his shot. But we did set up the snip appointment for Dec 23! ( MERRY CHRISTMAS HIRO!) We'll have to pick him up on the 24th. In addition, I carved up a couple of seats. So far this weekend is starting off better than last. I have 6 seats already for tomorrow. Cheryl's store is crazy! She has sold 5 of the 20 wristlets she made last night as soon as she listed them! She is working on stockings now to get some orders filled before Christmas.

As for me, I decided to do a little origami this evening. I didn't feel like I had enough time at the Book store to fully explore a few new designs. So I worked on them here at home while Cheryl listed stuff. See if you can figure out what they are.

Small woodworkers UNITE!

I just read a small post on one of the blogs that I follow about the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) passing a law that would require ALL makers of toys to pass third person safety testing. Even us little guys who scroll saw or carve toys that MAY be for children. Anyway, My default position on most things is to keep government out of it. Let us run out small business and be concerned with the quality and safety. It was the Chinese toy manufacturers that messed this all up for the rest of us. Even though I don't make toys at the moment, and even though I might not have an army of followers on this blog. I feel that all small entrepreneurs that make and sell things on line have an interest in keeping certain bureaucrats out of our business. Let the market dictate what people can sell. Most people probably have a tough enough time just trying to keep their small shop in the black. Fines, and fees that affirm something already known to all just adds weight to the price. Anyway. Read more here.....and learn what you can do to help! Thanks.

Midweek fun

Sold five tonight! In addition, Cheryl has been very busy. She sold A LOT of stuff. She is kinda grumpy lately, because she has been getting lots of requests and has had her shop totally wiped out! She stockings are almost all gone, and she only has a couple of wristlets left. So today I decided to feature her stuff a little on my blog. She has totally monopolized the kitchen with her shop and she lays out the materials on the table. She worked on 21 today, but they are not done yet. She'll probably finish them tomorrow and start working on replenishing her stocking stash. Tonight she got an Email from a nice customer that purchased one of her pillows. She said it looked like their dog so she had to get it. She sent us a picture to show it off. How cool is that?

New seats!

Things have slowed down a bit over the last couple of days. Yesterday I only had three and then tonight only one. I don't know what the reason for it is, but I'm hoping it passes soon. There are still a couple of weeks before Christmas and that should be enough time to have them delivered by the 24th. Yesterday it snowed then rained then snowed again. Sloppy, slippery roads were the standard of the day, And I helped the neighbor get his 4X4 truck unstuck from the snow drift across the road. Loads of fun! ( brings back memories from my jeep days) And to top things off, We have had several Snafu's over the last couple of days. A customers bounced check ( ouch!), An order that never paid, But still wants her item 2 months after she ended it ( good bye $12 in fees!) an Angry customer who insists that one of the plastic bumpers on the seat was installed wrong. And the usual suspects of bargain hunters wanting us to send them seats for less than it COSTS us to make! Business as usual! But on a lighter note, I was able to carve up a couple of prototype seats over the last couple of days. A stylized owl, a yellow headed blackbird, and a Lucky cat. I have been trying to find the new trend lately, since realistic wildlife seems to be taking a down cycle. I'll have to just hope for the best.

Shipping and snow.

Kind of a slow weekend. I carved up 7 last night and Cheryl and I plan on wrapping them up tonight. ( actually, tomorrow morning when the boxes come. In the mean time, Cheryl is wrap attacking her Etsy sales. She is doing rather well all of a sudden. She is actually bragging that she MAY have made more money than me this week. To be fair...I did have a cold. And she has had these stockings and pillows around since summer. But the wristlets are selling fast and she is making as many as she can in her spare time. She is also trying her hand at a Barrett. In other news, We scored the rest of the seats from the store. It took a while but we flagged down a couple of nice ladies from another department and they were able to help us out. It was kind of strange trying to explain why we would want to order 32 toilet seats. Cheryl never wants to tell them anything. Like we are some kind of spies or criminals. I used to give them a business card with pictured to help them visualize it a bit. But without cards. It's like explaining the sky to a blind person.

Origami quirk.

I have this little habit of doing origami. I know it is not exactly "manly" for some guy to leave origami dollar bills as tips or sit and fold paper while his wife is shopping. But I do. Cheryl made a nice little origami cozy for my paper so it won't get all ripped or wrinkled. I fold a number of things depending on the time I have to spend. The typical animal takes from 10 to 15 minutes. Birds take less, Insects sometimes take hours! Anyway, today was spent at the books store paging through magazines and me folding little animals like this.... Here is the same little horse with a flash. ( my camera has difficulty taking really close pics of small things. I'll maybe show some of my other creations from time to time.

Cold 1, Ethan 0...

Well the cold hit me fully yesterday. I did not even carve. I am feeling better now and was able to carve up 5 of the 8 I needed. It's all good since we only have 5 boxes and the box company did not send us a confirmation email for delivery tomorrow. So looks like only 5 were going out anyway. I could not even watch my favorite anime series. ( I'm a big anime fan,)

Tis the cold and flu season

Carved 6 tonight. Could not find any more at the moment. The employee at the store was VERY helpful. ( sarcasm) After flagging him down, he finds out that there are 40, that is right! 40 seats in the back. ( same number the lady told us on the phone Monday) then comes back and says he could only get 2! I'm a little grumpy about that. But I had enough on my plate for the day and did not want to drive all over looking for more. Hopefully, we will go there tomorrow and get a different Employee to find them for us. I currently have 5 for tomorrow already. YEAH!

Christmas rush for Cyber Monday

Hiro, the kitten, has inspected our Christmas tree and ensured that I put it together properly. Now on to the big stuff! Despite it snowing ...A LOT! today, We managed to sell 14 seats! I carved up 7 tonight and have at least 7 for tomorrow. We still suffer from the elongated problem. Cheryl had a brilliant idea to mark them up to $120.00 and offer them to whoever is willing to pay for us to find them. I might be interested then. The new snow made the roads very slick. It helps if your tired are not bald. I'll have to make an appointment with Cheryl's brother to put on some newer tires on soon! How was your Cyber Monday?