After taking some time to get everything settled for the accounting aspects, then everything else that had to be done first, I've finally got my etsy shops up and running. Yes, I said "shops" - as in there is more than one. Reason being, I really didn't want to have photos included with the other things I'm planning to sell. Sure, I could have. But it didn't quite feel right. The other account had been set up first anyway, and was for handmade items. Seeing as I don't print my own photos (only on rare occasions and only when I only need a couple of prints; never on a mass scale - it's way too expensive!) I don't think they would fit under the handmade category.







I have to admit, boyfriend is feeling more positive about this venture than I am right now. For me it's just a kind of "invest a little time and money but don't expect anything to ever come of it" feeling, but he's thinking this could be a good thing for me and I just need to be patient with it.

Regardless, my sister has offered to take some of my jewelry with her to a craft show she is doing in November and try to sell some of it there for me. That may be a route I will need to take on my own if it goes well for her. Granted she lives in a different area than I do - she's in the suburbs just outside of Pittsburgh and I'm out in a rural area smack in the middle of nowhere... so craft shows here don't draw the same crowd as those in her area. Not to mention I did a craft show around here a couple years ago with my mother and dear lord it was the most miserable weekend of my life. People around here so SO stuck up and snotty I have to wonder why they bother going to craft shows when they simply turn their noses up at EVERYTHING there!

But I digress.

Dare I say, I think I am actually enjoying the accounting aspects of this whole venture. Sure, at the moment. There is not much to it; I have a handful of accounts I've set up myself and I get to do everything MY way with this. If I were actually working as an accountant for somebody else there'd be loads of work to do, and it'd have to be done the boss's way not my way. Meh. Still I am starting to think it might possibly be a fun field to go into. I will admit now, another reason I took the accounting classes was so I'd have something to fall back on should the photography thing not work out. So. Yeah. Maybe I'll start looking into accounting opportunities around here, just to see..... maybe....


And in advance for tomorrow... Happy Birthday, America!



This is usually the time of year I break out a big fat history lesson for everyone, but I will refrain from that this year. Mostly because it's lunch time and I'm hungry. haha But I thought I'd list some American inventions, in honor of my beloved country's birthday. (In no particular chronological order!)

bifocals
the refrigerator
the coffee pot
the sewing maching
the safety pin
the revolver
the telegraph machine
the oil well
the water tower
roller skates
web offset printing
motorcycles
barbed wire
toilet paper
blue jeans
the cotton gin
the mimeograph
incandescent light bulbs
hearing aids
electric fans
electric irons
skyscrapers
Coca-Cola
revolving doors
escalators
the ferris wheel
tractors
cotton candy
zippers
air conditioners
crayons
popsicles
windshield wipers
tea bags
Band-Aid
masking tape
bubble gum
frozen food
scotch tape
chocolate chip cookies
chair lifts
photocopiers
nylon
defibrillators
microwave ovens
cell phone (much earlier than some of you might be thinking... in 1947!)
Polaroid cameras
disposable diapers
polio vaccine
the personal computer
the internet (in 1973, so earlier than some might think on this one as well)
optical light
calculators
product barcodes
artificial heart
air planes



THANK YOU - to all those who fought for this country all those years ago, throughout the years since, and to those who are currently doing the same. Your sacrifices and hard work are not forgotten or taken for granted.

I have nothing to do for a while tonight so I thought I'd post. Maybe I'll come back regularly next week. I haven't really decided just yet. Most likely sometime next month though.

I got my strawberries yesterday and one batch of jam made this morning. I'll make the second batch tomorrow, simply because by the time the first batch was done it was too hot to want to bother making more again. So, I'll just be sure to wake up early enough in the morning again tomorrow that I can get the second batch done before it gets too hot. I love making strawberry jam.

Do you remember the ring I ordered from Toltec Trading Company via their shop on amazon? I ordered the cute heart design and instead they sent me the butterfly. I tried to contact them about it and got no response to any of my efforts. I waited and waited, in hopes that they were simply busy and perhaps understaffed in the customer service department. (It does happen, afterall...) But finally I gave up. I left them a negative review on amazon and explained why they got the negative review. Yes I could have filed a complaint with amazon to try to get my money back and everything... but for a $7 piece of plastic, it seemed like more of a hassle than it was worth to go through all that. So I contemplated my pink shades of nail polish for a while. And I fixed my ring up myself.



It's not perfect, but at least it's a heart like it was supposed to be. I then decided to take a more thorough look at Toltec's ratings on amazon. Now granted even if I'd done that before ordering, they have enough positive feedback I'd have gone ahead and ordered anyway. But I did see that what negative feedback they've received is from customers with the same or similar experience with them that I had. Wrong items sent, packages being delivered to the wrong place and never arriving, broken items... and the company never even willing to respond to them about it. What few feedback comments the company had replied to, for *every* single one they blamed the customer saying that they had shipped to the address provided or they had not made a mistake and it was the customer's fault. Most of the feedback - like the emails and phone calls trying to sort whatever problem there was with the order - went unanswered. So I suppose I can at least take some sort of satisfaction in that I was not the only person this company decided to blow off when they screwed up.

I've got a very busy day ahead and I have lots to do today. But I'm taking a little time out first to get my thoughts sorted and part of that is visiting friends and blogging a bit. (I'm an odd creature, I know. Who else can get things straightened out in their head while doing other such trivial things?)

For those who missed it I have a new photography blog. This blog stays as it's more personal and more "anything goes" and the new blog is photography only. The link is to the left, under the 'my web presence' category.

I've discovered that, frustrating as it was, my decision to take an accounting class was a very wise decision. I had to take a business course, and among the several options I had I narrowed it down to two that I thought would actually apply to my everyday life at some point, particularly if I ever wanted to make a career of independent photography or any other sort of small business. Business Management and Accounting. I suppose I could have taken both, and would have benefited from both of them. But my school workload was already pretty heavy at the time and I was really just trying to get my required credits out of the way as quickly as possible so I could move on to my photography classes and have fun. So I weighed the pros and cons of each choice and decided that accounting was probably a much more useful class. There were some lessons that had me wanting to rip my hair out in frustration, and I cried over it several times. The most annoying thing, however, was constantly hearing EVERYONE around me saying things like "You should become an accountant since you're learning how to do all that stuff. They make good money." If I cared about making money I would not have been going for a degree in photography.

Now I have to admit there ARE times I look at my life and wonder if maybe I should try to get into accounting. I know what's involved, and I know if there ever was a job you need to "work your way up" it's accounting. You really do have to start at the very bottom and work your ass off for a long time before you can take MORE classes to be a CPA, then work your way up the accounting ladder from there. I STILL hear from a lot of people around me that I need to be an accountant because I'd make good money, and they always tell me all these stories about people they know who are accountants or have kids who are accountants and they have all these nice things, great houses, new cars etc. And yes, the materialistic part of me does stop and think how great that would be. But the simple truth is, my heart just isn't in it.

I am glad that I learned it though. Because not even a year after finishing the class, I've got use for what I learned. I'm preparing to open my etsy shop. And guess what. I need to set up some accounts and keep records for everything... which is everything I learned in accounting. I know how to evaluate my assets and liabilities and how to keep track of them as well as all my expenses and profits and how to keep everything organized so my information is always at hand and accurate. Now I know, you don't need to have accounting knowledge to keep track of this sort of thing. But I really have to say that I think it does help a lot because having things organized in the ledgers and worksheets really makes it SO much easier to find whatever information you need in minimal time as opposed to just jotting things down in a notebook.

I also know most people don't bother to go to such efforts when they sell things online on sites like etsy. I'm not one of those people though. I NEED to have these records so I know where my money is going and what's selling well and what isn't, and so I can have records of all the transactions come income tax time. Another thing most people don't bother to do with their little online shops but income is income and it needs to be filed once you reach a certain amount of money. Maybe I'm a goody-two-shoes in that aspect. Call me what you want for it, but I like knowing if anything should ever happen as far as taxes go that I'll have proof of what I've made and spent, and I'll be able to relax because I know everything is in order.

(When did I grow up?)

Anyway I need to head to the store today to pick up some accounting stationery and some other basics for that. And I'm also going to get supplies to make some strawberry jam and head to the local farm to get some strawberries and probably a few other things too. I can't go into their little store and walk out with only berries - it never happens. Ever. But before I do all that I have some cleaning to do around the house so I need to get on that. Have a great day everyone.

I got quite a surprise today. I was cleaning out the cupboards this morning and trying to get them somewhat organized. (I swear my dad and I are the messiest most unorganized people ever.) I tossed a bunch of old stuff that had gone bad or I knew we'd never use anyway. I'm still not done with that task - I got half way through and decided I am tired of cleaning cupboards and need a break. (Which will probably last till next week... hey at least I got part of it done and it looks loads better! Now if I can just keep it that way...) I also got one of the kitchen counters cleaned off. For the most part. There's still some stuff there I need to figure out what to do with - but that can wait till later.

Anyway so I had a nice full garbage bag to take out and put in the outdoor trash can we keep on the deck. No big deal. I tie up the bag and head out. Just as I'm about to drop the bag I look to my left and see this adorable little bird just sitting there. I drop the bag and stare at the bird, which is less than three feet away from me and not flying away. He (or she? I'm referring to it as he...) seemed like he may have been hurt, the way he was sitting. For the briefest moment I considered just ignoring it, going back inside and going about my business. But I knew I couldn't just leave him there like that. So I got closer to him, fully expecting him to take off and fly away. I pet his sweet little feathers and ask if he's ok. As if he'll answer, or tell me in a human voice what's wrong.

So there I am, crouched down by this adorable little bird, wondering what to do. I have no idea what kind of bird he is, if he's just a baby or full-grown. I decide to pick him up and carry him in the house with me just long enough to find a box to put him in. Jenna sees him and perks her ears up with interest but she doesn't move. I considered letting her have a sniff, but didn't want to scare the bird and really didn't want her to decide to try to make him her lunch. Along the way I grabbed my camera (of course!) and an old cream cheese lid to put some water in for him. I put him in the box, along with the lid filled with water, and set him on the porch. Then I just sit and watch him. I talk to him to offer some form of comfort - or at least that's what I've convinced myself I'm doing.

I give my dad a call at work to tell him about it; and boyfriend calls so I end up telling him about it too. All the while the little guy is very alert; listening to every noise and he even hops around the box a little. He seems like he's getting better and I comment to boyfriend maybe he was just overheated. Boyfriend tells me birds don't get overheated - but I am not sure he's right about that. Regardless, I stay on the porch with the birdie wondering what to do about him. As I'm wondering, he's watching me intently and then he starts to stretch out his little wings a bit.

And then he decides to fly away. He hops onto the ledge of the window and sits there a while; then flies around the porch a bit before taking off into the woods.

And I was happy to see him go - because that means he's ok.

I'll have to lookup what kind of bird he was later, if I can find my bird book anywhere. Dad had it last, and I don't know what he did with it.













I know, I know.... I should have put on some gloves before picking him up. That occurred to me only after I had him in the box. I was sure to wash my hands really well right away after putting him in the box though. At least I maintained some of my common sense in that way.

I'm not entirely sure why, and I'm sure this won't really make sense to anybody else. But some small part of me feels like encountering this little bird this way was a test of some sort. And I feel like whatever the test was about, I passed.