Is it really over a month

Well I guess it must be since I posted last.

As I was thinking about writing this it was becoming a bit like one of those letters you send to your gran after they've given you a present.

Dear gran, thank you for your wonderful gift, I really like it. Since I last wrote to you I have grown 3 inches, got new teeth and a new red bicycle.

Life hasn't really been that interesting at this end really. A lot of my time has been working towards getting a wholesale order sorted. The time I need for it hasn't been too much but trying to get my head round what was wanted has been. But woo hoo.... looks like I'm finally there.

I was out in the shed doing the wholesale order this morning and stopped for lunch. When I went back to do my creative things I have been looking forward to for ages, I realised I'd managed to leave the propane valve a little open and it had been leaking.

As I couldn't smell gas I nearly re lit the torch... so glad my brain is working a little because I didn't.

Anyway, the plan is now to get my new giggle beads on the site and then bead some more of the nature inspired beads when I'm less likely to blow myself up... doh

Wot a shame

In my last post I was really excited about the idea of a wholesale order. I've spent time trying to work out wether it is something I can do for the money that I was being offered. We had agreed that I would do some sample beads for this week.

What became obvious really quickly was that for the price being offered I would need to make the beads in 1.5 mins... they were taking me 4-6 mins. That is such a big differnce that there is no way I can do that. It also measn that onee all the costs are take out I would be working at below the minium wage.

I feel really sad about it but I know that declining is the right thing to do. After all I'm the one who often talks on forums about charging a fair amount for your beads. I also strongly believe that yoiu offer a worker a fair wage... wether that be in this country or abroad.

This experience has reminded me of thoughts I had last summer about fair trade goods and just how wrong it is for workers to be paid so little in India and China when they make beads. Not only are the beads of a poor quality, and possilby not annealed so they are not strong, but the workers work in really hot environments.

Thanks for reading

Julie

Exciting News

I feel like bouncing, I'm so excited. I've been talking to some one about the possibility of doing some wholesale bead making for them. All that needs to happen is for me to do some test beads to see if they are happy with what they receive and for me to be certain that its a commitment I can keep to.

Hopefully by this time next week I'll know whether it is something I am able to do and maintain. If I can it will mean that it frees me up to make the more arty jewellery I want to do... so this could be the answer to my prayers about what to do with my time

The rest of my evening tonight has been preparing an order for a local shop... I really had forgotten how long that takes... although I do one once a month for them... I really must have short term memory problems

Watch this space for updates

Julie

New Beads

Hey there,

Today's been an interesting day. The lock on the flat was completely broken... it took the poor guy an hour to get into the flat. At least it was secure.

He managed to open the door just as the surveyor for the new mortgage arrived... He was half an hour early so it was good the locksmith had managed to do his bit

The good news is that there should be no problem with the mortage

But I started the cleaning... they guys who were lodging had no idea what cleaining was. Whats really making me sad is that my brand new cooker looks absolutely aweful. Lets hope the new guys in will respect the place more.

So today has been a day of cleaning and sorting the flat and not bead making. But I do have a bunch of new bead sets up on the website

Thanx for reading

Julie

Don't ya just love it when technology works

There have been a couple of really fantastic things which have happened over the last couple of days which will make my bead listing soooo much easier.

Firstly Mr Site has listened to its customers and there is now the ability to add more pictures to the listing... and is soooo much easier to list items. I just need to get all my pictures to line up with the changes... but hey that's no problem.

And the second thing... Skype have finally added a patch. Doesn't sound so exciting, but what was happening is that when I was listing beads, explorer would regularly crash... no warning. I was getting really frustrated ... and had told the guys at Skype as much.... but today.... wooo hooo... no problem. The patch works

It only took a few minutes to change to the new Mr Site layout and normally doing something like that would have taken me hours with these two glitches...

Julie is a happy girl..

.... oooooh and a quick flat update.... that seems to be going smoothly to... well getting the passport anyway... the passport offices has such an incredibly simple and efficient system.... and I have a passport... just need to get the locks on the flat sorted tomorrow...

New beadies should be listed tomorrow.... I have some in the kiln and some spacers so I can list some stuff I made before

Thanx for reading

Julie

Frustration

With all this flat stuff I havent had time to bead and its really begining to get me down. Not to mention that I need to do an Easter order for a beadshop.

This week isnt gonna be much better because I'm doing the passport thing on Saturday, I have to go to the flat on Sunday to check out whether or not the lock to the flat is broken. Yes you did read right. The estate agent managed to get into the flat on Monday but by Tuesday when the surveyor was meant to go round the lock was broken... grrr. Then Monday I need to be there again to let the surveyor in and sort our some of the decorating... So much for getting any beading done this week.

The good news is that I have started a diet and this week lost 4 lb... so impressed with myself. Long way to go but here's the start.



Thanx for reading.

Julie

Flat Changes

For those of you who have been following the saga over the last few years… ermmm… there have been some changes.

Following the really sill offer of £20,000 less than the asking price they offered £12,000 less as their final offer… errr, no, me thinks not accepted. It then got interesting because we got an offer for the full asking price… great… you might be thinking… but err no.

A and I had had a long discussion about what we should be doing and we had decided that we definitely wanted to go down the buy to let route ourselves. By the time the mortgage was sorted we should be debt free in 6 months, and still be on the property ladder. Not only on the property ladder but in Aldershot which was one of the places in the country identified by Location Location Location as a good place to invest.

The long and the short of it is, that we declined the full price offer. They then came back the following day saying they would offer more than the asking price… and we still said no.

Now… the only problem with all this is proving that I am who I say I am. My passport has expires, my driving licence is in my maiden name and my wedding certificate is over 6 months old so doesn’t count.

So next weekend I have to get into London for 9.30… arrgggggg….. but at least it will all then be sorted… and the good news is that the letting agent already thinks they have someone to rent the place, how cool is that

See ya soon

Julie