Maybe This Is It...

In yesterday's post, I wondered about what I could be doing with my life once my PTA (and now) Young Women calling were over.  Well, I haven't yet shown you this:

This is a cooperative project I'm working on with Genius Golfer.  I take the photos and create the products--which I was doing already for friends and family--and he created the website and will handle the marketing and distribution.  At least, that is, in theory.  I am not sure anyone will even buy any thing, but at least I am trying.  And it has been a good practice project for GG to hone his web-development skills.  We'll see how successful it is after that point.

But I guess I do have a project to keep me busy.  Except to this point, I have spent money and time to make the cards to put on the site, and there is no reciprocal income to be seen yet.

I'll still keep you posted.  We'll see what happens.  It is the Internet...anything can happen.

Keeping Busy

I have been working on this project for weeks.  Some days it is only 15 minutes here, another week it might be a few hours.  But this is the result of my effort.  I haven't even counted them really, but I had over 750 prints the last time I ordered for my cards.  And I had a couple other stacks of prints I hadn't gotten to yet.  Now they are all cards.  Finally. And this is the inventory stock-hold for our newest website adventure.

Genius Golfer, in one of many irons in the fire--so to speak--is developing a website to sell my photo cards for me.  He told me my job is the creative work and manufacturing end.  He will take care of the marketing and shipping.  So this is the beginning of what I hope is a profitable--without being a time sucking--first time (for me) entrepreneurial effort.

At least that would give me the hope someone else might like to buy and use my cards.  Though GG's plan for pricing is too much for me to completely agree.  But I am cheap.  I know that.  If I think I can make something, I'm not going to pay money for it from someone else.  But his thought was "a lot of people don't want to bother making it themselves...and you need to do more than cover your costs."  I guess that is true.  But I can't bring myself to charge $10-$20 for a set of handmade photo cards.  He didn't even flinch.

I guess that is why he is the marketing guy.  I'll stick with shooting pictures and making cards...just like I always have done.  And if he can get something going to generate a little spending money on the side for me, I'd love that.  That was the only reason I even tried to sell them in the first place--to recoup my expenses and make a little pocket change too.  Here's hoping for more than pocket change.  Good thing he is in charge.

The website is nearly done--he's been waiting for me to get the sets figured together so the customers can see just what they are buying...while I like to call them "Spring floral cards" and you get what you get and you don't throw a fit.  But internet buyers want to see JUST what they are buying. I would want the same when i buy online, so I can't fault him for making me figure it out ahead of time.  But it does add one more layer of worry  and change for me.

We'll keep you posted and introduce the website here when it is ready for visitors.  Wish us luck!

Project Runway, NOT!

Missed posting yesterday, it appears.  I hate when that happens.  I didn't even have anything on the calendar--another "day off" so to speak, and yet I got busy doing stuff around here and missed writing.

Today has gotten away from me too, and while I have several things left to do, I would like to catch you up on a new hobby/obsession I have discovered.

It is called "Pinterest" and I must own that it is incredibly addictive and a huge time waster.  Even more than Facebook.  But there are moments of brilliance that come from it.

Essentially it is a "virtual bulletin board" where ideas, projects, photos, art, quotations, etc. etc. etc. are shared and you can "pin" something you like to your board for future reference.  I love the idea behind this, as I have files and file s and files saved to various folders on my computer for this exact purpose.  Someday I might need that project idea, or lesson help or DIY fix.  You never know.

Today, however, I actually DID one of those ideas...a 5 Minute skirt.  It is darling! 

So for all those minutes of looking at things I will never do, here was one that worked out great!  The best part is that The Girl is also making a few skirts (which she desperately needed for church) from ideas she found on Pinterest.  So, maybe it isn't a complete waste of time after all.

Biting Off More Than We Can Chew

Today is the post-paint, pre-carpet, mid-electronics trouble work day for our house project. Genius Golfer is figuring out how and where to put the speakers that he insists we must have to compliment our too-big-in-my-opinion television in the family room. To do this, we needed to pull the books and scrapbooks that were loaded very recently into the new entertainment bookshelves GG made for me last year. His plan is to run the wires for all these speakers behind the shelving and make them less visible. All that sounds good.

Piles of stuff in the office, waiting.

He also decided we need to replace the carpet: "If we are going to re-do it, we're going to re-do it all right." That meant that we unloaded the pair of blue sofas to Dear Friend Sherry for her unfinished basement--and wintertime playroom. (Thanks, Sherry!!) So the carpet will be pulled up from the family room, and from under the recently installed and loaded with books--but now unloaded of everything--shelving. The new carpet is coming and will be installed on Wednesday.

Bags of books...waiting.

With no couches, no front room furniture until the stuff comes we ordered (should be here the first week of September) I think I can safely say we most likely won't have Home Teachers popping over anytime this month--there is no where to sit with them. Just the kitchen table and chairs...and that is comfortable enough for eating, but not for HT visits.

Piles of scrapbooks, too many really, all...waiting.

So GG has his work cut out for him today. Lucky for me he has hardly asked me to lift a finger--and I prefer to see that as a deference to my femininity than a critique on my usefulness and helpfulness. So let's leave it at that.

Spots not quite ready for all the stuff...waiting.

In the meantime, I live among pile of books, scrapbooks, wall hangings, framed art and photos, and boxes of stuff waiting to be put away again--as soon as GG tell me he is ready for it.

If You Build It...

The weekend gave an opportunity to show off the shelves the Genius Golfer has been building for me. They fill one wall at the end of our family room. It is 2 parts book shelf and 1 part entertainment center. It is made of hickory and has made our house smell of polyurethane for weeks. We are still airing it out.

The Girl helps GG put the three sections together.

Adding the shelves.

Load in some books, have The Boy watching TV, and there you have it!

There will still be two more shelves above the TV, he tells me, and also some cabinet doors on the bottom portion to hide the DVD and video piles. We'll see about that.

Sadly, I already think I need more shelves in the bedroom and my office space. I just love books too much. And we have many of them. I just can't get rid of books. At least now I have a place to (begin to) put them.

Out with the Old...In with the New?

As 2008 fades away and the bright shiny New Year comes in tonight, I am knee deep in a project to clear out, clean up, and make better use of the space I have in my house.

I have a lot of TShirts. I come from a TShirt family. I enjoy picking up a shirt when I go somewhere. I like to think it commemorates the visit and helps the memory last a bit longer. Since I don't wear a lot of jewelry, TShirts are always appropriate souvenirs for my kind of travels. You know, the ones where swap meets are part of the itinerary.

Several months ago, I cut the fronts and backs out of my travel TShirts and set them aside for a TShirt quilt. This is my third one. I have a completely quilt of TShirts from high school plays, teams, and clubs. My mom made me one from TShirts from many years of Girls' Camp. So one more for my more recent travels and collections and mementos.

I guess this feels like the right thing to do as I tend to subscribe the "Use it Up, Wear it Out, Make it Do, or Do Without" philosophy. Maybe not to the extent of my Grandma Bernice who literally saved EVERYthing. The quilt will end up on a winter bed around here and the backs that are blank make fantastic rags. So here is my effort this week to "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle".

I'll let you know how the project turns out when I get it done.

In the meantime, I am off to see Sister and Nephews with The Boy and The Girl for our indoor surfing activity. I plan to stop at the Gas 'nSip for a really big Diet Coke to try to help me hold my tongue, then Genius Golfer and I have a standing hot date with our last set of now married friends from our former singles ward for the early bird New Year's Eve dinner out. Then apparently, we are headed to SIL#1's place for games and treats with GG's family.

If you head out tonight, be sure to celebrate responsibly. I KNOW we will.