Just had to share this photo of Scout that Don took with his iPhone. It cracks me up. You can see why the border collie rescue group temporarily named her Smiley.
Oh, I love that girl.
Autumn seems to be a time of cleaning and reorganizing. I’ve been doing my fair share of that here at the cottage and I’ve been doing a bit of that in my cyber world, as well. Just a little bit.
You may or may not have noticed that the links to my Etsy shop are missing from the blog. Meredith and I went into a sort of hiatus over the summer, the same as we did last year. Summer isn’t the best time to sell crocheted scarves and shawls. Or, for me, to work on them. Normally I would have re-opened the shop by now. But a few things are holding me back. I don’t seem to want to crochet or knit at the moment. I started a scarf and it sits on the desk where I left it 3 weeks ago – untouched and unfinished. More importantly, the shop’s success in the past has been wonderful but it also means I have to pay taxes on my sales – all well and good and as it should be. But most of my work income as a contractor (which is how theaters label me) is untaxed as well. As is my ad income for this blog. When you start to add it all up, it can become overwhelming at tax time. I keep receipts, of course, and deduct those out-of-pocket expenses necessary to make my inventory; yarn, packaging materials, etc. Nevertheless, it all adds up.
My gut tells me I need to cut back and since Meredith and I are both busy and neither of us seems to be motivated to create new inventory for the shop, I’m going to keep it on semi-permanent hiatus for the present. I’m not closing the shop – at least for now. But I’m also not linking to it. I’ve removed the link from the navigation bar.
I’ve replaced it with a link to my most recent book reviews. I’ve happily discovered that a lot of you really enjoy my book reviews and I started thinking that it would be handy to have the links in one place. So I went through the last year and a half of blog posts and made a list of all the books I have reviewed and added links to the review posts. (I was surprised at how many of them there were!) These aren’t all of the reviews, as I’ve been writing them for about three years, but they are the most current. I hope you enjoy them. I sure enjoy writing them. I have another one coming up next Wednesday and I think you’ll like it.
Speaking of book reviews, the winner of a copy of Killer Image is Christy. Congratulations, Christy!
I’ve also decided to discontinue A Favorite Thing.. I loved our little party and I enjoyed hosting it for you each week. I post daily, as you know, and it’s all original content. Adding the weekly meme and the visits to everyone taking part in the party took a lot of additional time. I hope you understand and I thank all of you who participated from the bottom of my heart.
Last but not least, why is it that light bulbs seem to burn out in clusters? Does that happen to you? We have recessed lighting in the kitchen ceiling that uses floodlight bulbs. One died about five days ago and I went to the store to replace it. No sooner had I returned home with my $7.00 bulb when another burned out. I hadn’t had a chance to get a replacement bulb yet which turns out to have been a good thing, because when I got up this morning and turned on the lights, another bulb burned out.
Are my light bulbs messing with me? Are they getting together at night to plot the timing of the next demise? Are they laughing behind my back?
Hmmm.
Happy Saturday.
bonjour Claudia,
Vous m’avez même fait lire “Ne tirez pas sur l’oiseau moqueur”,j’ai eu un jour le regard attiré par ce titre dans mon supermarché,j’ai tout de suite bondi dessus.
J’achète malheureusement peu de livres hé oui,mais je vais continuer avec ceux que vous proposez.
Vous êtes internationale,Claudia.
Merci à google translate en ce qui me concerne sinon je ne vous connaîtrais pas ce qui serait dommage.
Claude (France)
Merci, Claude. Je suis si contente que vous aimiez To Kill a Mockingbird! Je suis tellement heureux de vous rencontrer.
xoxo
Claudia
You are a busy girl lately with all your cleaning and organizing, stop by my place if your energy persists. LOL I find that the recessed lights in our lowest level burn out faster because it is the floor to the above level. Just the abuse of walking on them does it.
Well, I can’t use that as an excuse because there’s nothing above the kitchen! But it’s so annoying! xoxo
Oh those lightbulbs, I think that they all conspire together to blow up at the same time…it’s always a expensive business when they start to go.
Jen
Yes it is, especially with $7.00 bulbs!
Actually yes the lightbulb thing happens here too :)
Good to now it’s not just me, Deb!
I hear you on the light bulbs…we’ve just replaced 6! They are devious little beasts!
I applaud your decision to follow your instincts and cut back on commitments a little bit. I find it incredibly hard to do that but, when I follow my instincts it invariably leads to something wonderful.
It’s very hard and not without some guilt. But in the long run, it’s worth it.
Love the Scout “selfie”!
Adorable, isn’t it? Thanks!
At my house, it’s Kleenex. I have allergy “issues” and because I also use my farmhouse dining table for a desk, I have a box of tissues in every room except the kitchen. And it seems like every one of them conks within 2-3 days of each other. One day I have 10 or 12 extras in the linen closet [this child of Children of the Depression likes the peace-of-mind that comes with a well-stocked larder]. The next thing I know it’s half empty. ??? !!!
PS – another great Scoutie pic! Placing it where you did – first thing up – was SPOT-ON. I smiled & cracked up before even reading a word. Set the perfect tone! Looking forward to more Scoutie posts too. Enjoy your weekend – hope we get some sun!!
I’m with you on the allergy issues – sometimes I have to resort to paper towels!
We have sun today but it’s sure windy. And my morning glories and zinnias died last night. Sob.
LOVE the photo of your favorite boy and girl with a beautiful blue sky and green tree in the background! A keeper!
I applaud you on your “cutting back” – a girls gotta do what she’s gotta do. Despite my desires, I’ve had to cut back on my little health blog, plans for my new blog, plans for new etsy shop and I’m basically in just relist mode on ebay. The adventures of life – and putting first things first – just have to take precedence. The older I get, the wiser I get in making these types of choices.
Please know Claudia that your daily posts are SO appreciated. Even if I miss a couple of days, I love the “bonus” days when I get to catch up on your posts. It’s like taking a mini-vacation on my computer. THANK YOU! :)
You are so welcome, Deb. I hope you’re feeling well, my friend. You’re right, we’re getting wiser….finally!
Just how many of us could come out as well as Scout with a photo taken of us from that angle? Ha! Every pore would look like a crater! Beautiful Scout!
I certainly couldn’t! Horrors! Miss Scout is definitely the photogenic one in this family.
Yes, there is a conspiracy Claudia. Things in our house used to break down..cars, appliances, furnace…whenever my in-laws were coming to visit. I miss that! And I’ve found that in my extensive research…light bulbs usually go out at least in pairs. I really do hope you and Meredith will reopen your Etsy shop in the future…you both do such beautiful work! And yes…Scout really DOES smile! ;)
She does smile! Who knows, Mer and I might very well re-open, that’s why I’ve chose to say we’re on hiatus.
I think they burn out at the same time, because we replace the bulbs all at the same time . The boxes usually have how hours of use time they have. Just a thought. Brenda
Yes, I know, but I can confidently say that I would never remember when I started using a particular bulb! xo
It does all seem to get overwhelming at times. I have had to cut back and rearrange, too in order to keep my sanity and keep doing the things I love most. Just keep blogging and yes, you choose some wonderful books to review and as an avid reader, I appreciate those. xo Laura
Thank you Laura! Trying to juggle everything can be too much.
This time of year does lend to the urge to purge. I am trying to simplify my life and collections too.
Those bulbs do seem to have a mind of their own. Some of ours outside have all given out as of late.
I love my scarf form you and more so since you are on hiatus. :).It is almost scarf weather here in Oklahoma!
Have a wonderful l weekend!
Thank you, Sharron! You, too!
I love the smiley picture of Scout. Made ME smile, too. Same here on the lightbulbs, especially the outdoor ones. Of course – those are the hardest to change! Re. the cutting back on things…sure, you may initially disappoint someone with certain changes, but ultimately, I think we all need to step back once in awhile and rearrange things in our lives and cut back here and there. I even do it on FB every so often – going through my friend’s list and deleting people whom I no longer communicate with.
Your lightbulbs are just preparing you for Halloween, Claudia. Beware of tricks! Smiley indeed! Love it! Ann
Love that smiling Scout! I had a feeling you would not start up A Favorite Thing again. It does take so much time to host and visit a link party. I’m helping Diann at the Thrifty Groove with her party and it is a lot. We like having each other as back up! As for the Etsy, I tried selling but never did well with it and just decided it wasn’t my thing at all. I’m so glad I got my scarf from you last year as I love it. I’ve been thinking about one of your crocheted garlands, but maybe I will just figure out something else! oh and light bulbs have a conspiracy for sure!
Oh my goodness! What a great picture of your “loves”…So funny you mentioned Etsy as I had JUST visited it to see if there was any garland etc…I certainly get your hiatus from it though.
oh, and as to the question if your light bulbs are plotting the answer is a resounding ”
YES!”
Mare
I find that mine wait until I have climbed up to replace one which includes figuring which way to turn each part of the light fixture and have put away the step stool before the next one burns out! You are not alone in this conspiracy…
You are one of only a handful of bloggers who post daily like I do. I’ve always wondered how you have time to do it all. I’ll miss your Favorite Thing party for mainly the great people I would always discover, but also, if I’m being honest, every time I linked to the party, my page views went sky high! You really helped my little blog find so many new readers and I’ll always be grateful to you for that.
As for the bulbs, I’ve sworn if I ever build another house I will never used recessed lighting again. Older houses got by without it, and the bulb blow outs are a pain in the butt!
Sail on, friend, and I’ll visit with or without an invitation to a party.
If there’s anything I can’t stand, it’s a bunch of laughing light bulbs!
I agree on the bulbs being put in at the same time and wearing out at the same time. Our recessed ones all did! I don’t like link parties at all, I never go to them. But I do see why bloggers would get an upsurge is viewership from a party, some folks like them. I like your new entries daily, I read you for you! Thanks.
The light bulb thing happened here on Thursday. In the kitchen ceiling fan, which of course we don’t keep those kind of bulbs on hand. Fortunately my hubby stopped at an estate sale on Friday and found a bunch of those very bulbs NIP for 50 cents! Yippie!!
I order the light bulbs for the store I work at and I just ordered up on them because the time change is coming up and there will be a big run on light bulbs. Tis the season!