January | 2016 | Auntie B's Wax

Archive for January, 2016

Wordless Wednesday

Posted in Wordless Wednesday, tagged castle, Germany, Heidelberg on January 27, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Wordless Wednesday

Posted in Wordless Wednesday, tagged cardinal, snow, winter on January 20, 2016| 3 Comments »

Just When I Needed You Most

Posted in Craft Business, tagged Just When I Needed You Most, laptop, printer, Randy Vanwarmer, video on January 18, 2016| 5 Comments »

Creative time. Tax time. Time to make those computers and printers work for what they cost.

I’ve been working on a big drop-off for The Farmer’s Daughter. I’ve got dozens of magnets and dozens of candles for the owners to stock their shelves. I’m in the home stretch, ready to send an e-mail to the owners telling them I’ll be coming by tomorrow with the motherload of product.

Oops, I ran out of burning instruction labels, and I also misspelled Patchouli on the front candle labels. No worries, I’ll just print some more. Except all of a sudden my laptop doesn’t recognize my printer.

Hello, I introduced you two years ago. Why do you ignore each other? Did one of you do something to make the other angry?

I’m not angry at either of you. I love you, my darling laptop, and you, my trusty printer. In the threesome we have going here I’d say you, Printer, are causing the most trouble. I need you, trusty printer! Forget about whatever gripes you have with the laptop. Perform for me! I’m the one you love! I’m the one who needs you!

I tried to stay calm and be understanding. I clicked everything I could to help the printer along, but to no avail. The stubborn little booger wouldn’t budge. There will be no printing tonight. There will be no product drop-off at the store tomorrow.

Do you ever find yourself in a situation and the perfect song comes into your head to reflect that moment? It happens to me all the time. When I realized my printer wasn’t going to help me my mind starting singing a song from 1979. It’s like I was trying to get my printer to feel sorry for me and work for me, via telekinesis.

Printer, you left me, just when I needed you most. Please come back.

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Winter Doldrums = Creative Motivation

Posted in Craft Business, Crafts, tagged crafting, taxes, winter on January 15, 2016| 4 Comments »

This time of year seems especially boring after the myriad of festivities during the holiday season. The only thing to think about during these cold days is…taxes.

But wait – doing tax work this time of year makes things less boring for me. I’ve been getting my business spreadsheets perfected so I can submit the 2015 sales taxes due now, and also submit the numbers to my tax man (Husby). Comparing income and expenses inspires me to get ready for the 2016 craft season. I want to organize Craftland. It’s time to order supplies. It’s time to build inventory. It’s a new page in the continuing adventures of Auntie B.

So what if it’s cold outside? I don’t have to go outside to melt wax. So what if I’m snowed in? As long as I have bottle caps I’ll have plenty to do inside.

Taxes? They’re an inevitable pain. Winter? It’s cold and dark and colorless. Lots of people curse both taxes and wintertime, but both motivate me to get going on a new year of crafting. I guess that’s what people refer to as the silver lining.