Just an ordinary day.…Slept in late this morning, up at 7 AM. Poured that first lovely cup of coffee (God bless programmable coffee makers) and started checking email. Yippee, my go-to guy for computer glitches sent me a reply and it’s an easy fix for my internet problem.
I unplugged my router, waited a few minutes, plugged it back in, restarted the computer, and voila! my wireless is working again. It was very frustrating to be trying to get my husband, Clay, to play on his new laptop when he couldn’t go online from the other room. I hadn’t realized there even _was_ a problem since I’m almost always directly connected and don’t know whether I’m using wireless or ethernet to connect to the router, it just works. One problem solved, and it’s not even 7:30 yet.
I received a phone call from a woman who saw us at Graeagle and she hoped that I could get a Celtic cross to her in Reno by Tuesday. She’s flying out to see her son graduate from boot camp and wanted to give him the cross. I went online, checked out shipping, and was able to assure her that I could make it up, ask for package pickup from the Post Office, and by using Express Mail, she would have it Monday. So, the next thing was to make the cross. Luckily, I had plenty of rings in stock, so got it made up. Those last 4 rings are still a sticking point, so I made up 2 just to try and figure out where I was going wrong. Finally realized it was that I was putting 2 rings in the wrong spot, inside rather than outside the previous links. These will now go much faster in the future. Hurray!
Next, back to the web, print out the shipping label and order package pickup. It’s now 9 AM; two problems solved, a little money made, one extra Celtic cross done for stock, and also replied to two new requests for link exchanges (one I linked to, the other denied).
Received a FAXed proposal for installing new windows, signed it and FAXed back an acceptance. Don’t like to rush into things. We’ve been talking about getting new windows for about 10 years now.… installation date, Aug. 21.
Client called to confirm that she would be out about 11:00 or a bit later for web work. Got phone calls from 2 people who want my strawberry plants. I had placed an ad on
freecycle.com that I was going to Roundup my strawberry bed on Monday, (putting in a cutting garden instead) and any who wanted strawberry plants could come and dig ‘em up. Terrific response. I really recommend freecycle to anyone who wants to find or get rid of stuff. I’ve seen everything from computers to trailers to full size organs on the list, all free!
My web client came about 11:30 and rather than just scanning some images for her. it turned out to be quite an interesting learning experience. She has her site hosted by Godaddy and does all the work online. It took me a while to figure out how to use their site to edit, kept double-clicking to edit an image, as I do on my Mac, and which was the absolutely wrong thing to do online at Godaddy! Finally just did all the editing off-line, then did a copy/paste into the HTML of her site. It looks nice, she was pleased, and I have a much better understanding of why there are so many “not so great” sites online. There is a huge learning curve to these hosting site, and each one handles formatting differently. Word of advice, if you are going to use online tools to post and edit your website, be sure to read all the instructions and tutorials, and don’t be afraid to call tech support. That’s what they are there for. It would be almost impossible for a beginner to post a professional looking site in “just a few minutes,” as some of these sites claim.
Now it’s 3 PM. I got the web site fixed; scanned, edited, and uploaded all her images; and had 2 ladies come out to dig strawberries (+ had 4 phone calls asking about the strawberries). Both women brought their very young children with them. The kids were, mostly, well behaved, but "eager." I had to stay out and keep an eye on them while the moms dug: one child almost uprooted my newly planted Rose of Sharon, and another was trying to climb on the not very sturdy fence. I'm so glad my kids are grown!
Now I can get to work on my jewelry order. Oh yeah, think I’ll grab a quick sandwich first. Clay has already eaten, so just had to get something for myself.
The necklace for my customer is turning out to be very interesting. I was a bit skeptical at first when she said she wanted such large cabs, all different sizes, shapes, and shades of black and white, but it’s going to be quite stunning. I’m excited to see it coming together.
Five PM and time to end my “official” work day. I join Clay on the deck for a drink (his is scotch, mine flavored water) and conversation. I sure do love Summer. It’s so nice to sit out on the deck at the end of the workday and just enjoy my garden. About 7 PM, I get another call about the strawberries. She’s been waiting all day to get her car back from the auto repair shop, so I don’t have the heart to tell her to wait till tomorrow. She’ll be out in 1/2 hour. I start dinner (so glad Clay made spaghetti sauce yesterday). When she arrives, I show her where the strawberry bed is and tell her to take what she wants, but to please leave some for the others who are coming tomorrow. By the time she is done, it’s getting dark and dinner is just about ready. Put the final touches on and finally get to eat (it’s now almost 9 PM).
Now I get to sit and read. My stack of magazines is getting pretty high, even though I’ve canceled several subscriptions, I still can’t seem to keep up. Tonight it’s MacWorld magazine from June. There are some fabulous tips —web based applications, a new widget for tracking multiple To-Do lists, email cleanup tips, video sharing, and Mac OS X tips— that I’ll need to scan onto the computer and index so I can find the info again when I need it. I used to just clip articles, but now that I scan them onto the computer using OCR software, I can actually _find_ the articles I want when I want to review them.
About 11 PM, can’t concentrate anymore, but not quite ready for bed. I take out my trusty Palm, and play a few games of Pilot Lines and Solitaire to quiet down the brain. 11:30 and it’s time to call it a day. Just another day in the life of a wirewrap jeweler.… Life is good.
My husband, Clay, died on June 8, 2009, and my life has changed forever; I miss him so dreadfully.
Since Clay’s passing, I find it easier than ever to procrastinate; after all, these things need doing, so it isn’t really procrastinating, right? I must, must, must get that order out today. Since this blog is “A day In the life of…,” my idea for the day is to first wrap those three stones, get them to the Post Office after loading up the truck for yet another dump run, get some food in the house that isn’t fats and carbohydrates, and finally, begin on my second quarter’s business books so I can do the sales tax form due at the end of the month.
and application forms. Its always the details.... I rather liked the brochure, but the website was boring; I got bogged in details, and couldn't think of a good design. Then, in comes the helping hand of Virginia Vivier of the Ganoksin Project. What a gem! She looked at my site and gently said, "I visited your new site and see that it is a 'work in progress'.” Then she said to call. When we talked she gave me some fabulously helpful hints for improvement.
more professional look to my cards and web site banner. My son, Scott Becker, the director of marketing for Rubicon Express, gave me the idea of using the tools, and I think it works quite well. What 'ya think? I'll be getting the logo for the web site, business cards, bag labels, etc. done, hopefully, in the next couple of weeks, in time for my first 2008 show.
