August 2018

It's almost August and try as I might, I must admit I never seem to find the time needed to do a little blogging. Every time I think I am going to post a new column, something comes up. With running a business on one's own, it's hard to find "free" time. It seems I am always listing on one of my sites, or shooting pictures or doing the bookkeeping (which I hate) or cleaning house. Balancing working hours with household hours is probably the hardest thing to do! But I try.





Buying and selling antique jewelry is a wonderful profession, but I find myself longing to go back into crafting. I did so many shows in the 80s and early 90s that there are, at times, moments when I want to go back to a show to see what I have been missing. Well, one thing I have not been aware of is Where Women Create, a magazine that (once I got over sticker price shock) I found to be the most amazing magazine. To have discovered its sister publications was like a Godsend. Not only did I bring myself up to snuff on the current "name" artisans, but I also found myself revisiting people whom I had known personally when I was still in Los Angeles.

Anyway, after seeing WWC I decided that I simply had to get my studio together. The only question was WHEN?? Well, I don't think it's going to happen this year as there are just too many things on my plate. My father is getting on in age and I have a trip to Vancouver at the end of August, back to back trips to London in October and November, and a cruise to Mexico with my father in December. And in b etween all that, I still have to file my 2009 taxes as I am on extension. Yep, that's enough.

But I do have time to make a few items at night so I did bring out a few bits and pieces and have been busy listing them on my sites on ETSY and RUBY LANE. Now when I break out the Christmas stuff, that will mean I am getting a little more organized!

Do you like the earrings I made? Here's a couple more pair.....

Things continue to change as I travel.  Every trip there seems to be one less shop open, one less market open. I had thought about moving back to Vancouver before I moved to St. Peters, but the realization that I would never be able to afford a home meant I had to choose where not only I could purchase a home for myself, but also where the inventory was. And it certainly was not in Vancouver. Like Los Angeles, Vancouver doesn't have much of a history whereas St. Louis goes back to the late 1790s. So the potential of finding goodies in Missouri was a lot higher than in British Columbia!

Like Vancouver, St. Peters has the same seasons - something Los Angeles did not. I love the turn of fall colors and I love to see snow. Imagining snow in Los Angeles is a bit of a stretch! Anyway, I'm happy here and the "green" certainly has put my soul at peace. If I can't live in Vancouver, St. Peters is the next best thing. Now if they could only do something about the heat!

I have made a promise to myself to get back into crafting. I think I have a lot of ideas to offer but I also realize that to offer them means having lots of inventory in place. Right now, I have little in the way of what I really want to produce. So my listings will continue to be slim on the handcrafted side, but hopefully larger on the antique finds side.

Here's a few of my latest antique jewelry finds..... 

And that's it for now. If you've stopped by, many thanks.

Take care.

2007 to 2018 - My Poor Condo

Now back to my condo problem...........

I visited my neighbors and sure enough each had the same noise, only my upstairs neighbor a little lighter hum, but my downstairs neighbor - well, let's just say if I had it 100 times, she had 1000 times. The only difference was she didn't stay home 24/7 and when she went to bed she had the TV on. She thought the hum was being caused by ME!

So with this new information I again began to make some calls. I think I am talking around mid 2008 when this happened. And since that time, NO ONE has helped me. But something funny began to occur. As each month passed, the hum started to get softer, more manageable. The vibration stayed but it shrank in intensity. When it rained, it got softer still. When winter 2008 came, it was practically negligent. So much so that I began to paint more walls and think that I was going to fully move in. But then the winter would end and the noise would come back. Which led me to a conclusion.....

New buildings were still being built around me and one of the construction people had suggested that since my unit was the first to be built, all the power for the construction was being drawn from the electrical box near my building. As each new building went up, the drain increased and my hum would subside. Okay, that's one theory. But the other is more plausible.......

Construction on a new freeway began at the same time the condos were being built AND as they worked, the electrical company started installing new power lines. So in fact, there were two sets of power lines running and perhaps I was getting the "overload". Once the freeway is completed, the extra lines will come down so that only the new remain. Again, could be the problem.....

But here it is now 2023 and yes, I still have my hum but it's the lowest its been. Yes, the floor still vibrates as does my bed but I can sleep now with just one pillow over my head and no ear plugs. I can tune the noise out with a loud TV and I can tune it out entirely with headphones. In other words, I can think and I can work and I can go to bed not having cried my eyes out because it was too noisy.
Friends and family visit and sometimes they can hear "something", other times they cannot. I realize that no one can understand my problem because they have not experienced it. 

A girlfriend of mine in England sent me an article dated April of 2009, about a "hum" epidemic within a certain community. So I was proved then and there NOT to be crazy.  And now, in 2023, if you do a Google on "hum in condo" you will see just how many problems there are with new builds.  Yep, the Internet has progressed since 2009.  Anyway, a "hum" is a nasty occurrence that I hope happens to no one. It's a horrific nightmare and I pray every day that one morning I wake up not hearing the dreaded sound. We shall see. 

Till next time.....



 

 

No noise.  That's all I wanted but in the now 11 years I have lived in my condo, I do not know what the word "silence" is.

In trying to explain my problem to others I was met with skepticism.  Since some people couldn't hear it, I know they dismissed me as crazy.  To those who did hear it, they couldn't locate where the noise was coming from.  They knew it was in the walls (you could hear it if you pressed your ear to the surface) and they agreed that if it was in the walls, it was certainly in the floor.  It really wasn't until 2016 when an Ameren employee came out and turned off the power to the entire building.  Even with the power off the hum continued and he suggested that it most likely had something to do with the Fire Alarm and Sprinkler system that was put into the building since it had a back up battery that NEVER went off.  But trying to get my Homeowner Association "Management" to do anything about it has resulted in a lot of e-mails, phone calls and nothing being done about the problem.  Even after the maintenace gent discovered that the panels in Buildings One and Two were different from the other buildings and HUMMING like there was no tomorrow.  Lighting a fire under CMA to get something done is like pulling teeth - they don't want to acknowledge the problem, instead they just want to ignore it.  Well, I am not going to rest until it is fixed and so I will continue my struggles in getting my condo to "go silent" through my blog!  Oh, and if my readers don't believe me, just go a GOOGLE for a "hum" in a condo.  when I first googled in 2007 there was nothing - today, the pages of Google are fairly filled with complaints!

I will prevail - it just might take awhile longer!

It is now December 9, 2018 and Christmas is right around the corner.  I haven't been back to London in a long time, 6 years I think, but I do manage to go somewhere at least once a year to do some shopping.  I was going to Brimfield for a spell and that was doing the trick for some time.  Then the Columbus Ohio area but as the years passed, something happened to all the femmy stuff in the area - it seemed to just disappear and because of that the malls started to lose their attraction.  The last time I was there one had closed and the others were decidedly more MASCULINE than feminine.  So I stopped going.

Shopping in the Internet is still a way to find inventory but not at the pricing I like.  So I went back to estate sales and auctions and now, I am starting to mix up my inventory on my web sites - I'm not just doing jewelry, I'm doing everything - antiques, collectibles, paper, photos, silver, fabric, you name it I will be doing it.

Oh, and I will also be featuring my handiwork here on my Blog.  Yes, some stuff is in my ETSY shop, actually come to think of it, no, there's not much there now.  I closed Gypsy Madonna on ETSY and instead am listing a little more diverse array of items on Robins Nest Midwest on ETSY.  Gypsy Madonna (the website) will eventually have everything from A to Z.  But it's taking me time to fill it.  Robins Nest Midwest on RUBY LANE will also be changing a bit - it will be more eclectic and not just jewelry.  So you can see, I am making changes!

So, starting now, enough with my past - let's get down to the present.  Think it's easy making a living on the Internet?  It's not.  So in order to show people just what I do, I will try to do a daily blog - things I do each day to ensure that I can pay my mortgage each month.  And buy groceries.  And pay my bills.  And buy inventory.  And buy supplies.  And gas for the car.  In short, what I sell pays my expenses.  Forget about a salary.  The money comes in and the money goes right back out.  It's not a bad way to live but if you are thinking about doing it yourself, well maybe you can take a lesson from me.

So sit back, stay tuned and please, if you are reading this, leave a comment.  I want to know if I am reaching someone or just blabbing to "air".

Till next time!

Taking a Break....

A brief respite from the story of my life....

For those who don't know what I do for a living, well, I sell on the Internet.  I have been doing so since May of 1999 full time.  That means every morning I rise, brush my teeth, wash my face, get into some clothes and walk the 23 paces to my workroom/office and turn on my computer.  From 10:00 am to 9:00 pm, most days, I am in this room either shooting pictures, cropping pictures, listing items, delisting items, preparing a mail, paying bills, crafting or placing orders for more inventory to sell on the Internet.  It's a job that I love but it IS very time consuming leaving little time for Blogging, Facebook, Twittering and Pinterest - frankly, it's hard for me to do all those things as I mostly do my sites (Ruby Lane, Etsy, EBAY and now, my website Robins Troll Market) before blathering on about me or my products.  Frankly, I don't know how so many people do it all but then again, they're probably not making a living full time from the Internet.

Working on the Internet, buying and selling, is a wonderful job and one I wouldn't give up.  But it doesn't exactly "feed the soul".  So I craft on my downtime and I will admit to the occasional trip to my local casino.  Yep, I love a good slot machine.  Having just entered the autumn of my life, I realize that feeding my soul is just as important as keeping a roof over my head.   

 

  

Well, welcome to the world of a middle-aged woman trying to make an honest buck!  It's certainly been a fun journey so far! 

Till my next posting. 

 

Oct 2007 to Dec 2007

Everyone tells you that a "real estate closing" is difficult.  Well, mine wasn't so bad but having to transition the move from a rental unit to my own unit was going to take me a lot longer than the 5 days that the seller wanted me to do.  So they actually kicked back to me one month's rent so that I could "close" on the right day - I guess they needed the bigger sum from the bank rather than my $650 a month rent.

Here's the outside of my building.  Pretty nice, eh?  I'm on the middle right (you can't see the lower units because there is a retaining wall at the level of the shrubs. 

So I moved into my unit in October 0f 2007 and by November I still hadn't done much.  





Yep, just a bed and a few things around. No chest of drawers, table, lamp or even a TV. Oh well.










And here's the view from my couch looking towards my entry way.


And looking towards the kitchen from my sofa......














Well, that was the quick move in - painting the walls was still to come as was trying to put some sense of order into all my crafting items that were still stored in boxes at my aunt and uncle's house. 

And then I found out that the local cable company wouldn't hook up the first two buildings until at least 5 had been built.  So I had to settle for dial up and good old AT&T.  How I HATED that! 

Time passed and I continued to list on the Internet (Ebay and Ruby Lane) and I even found time to open up a booth space at the mall across the street from where I lived.  Things were fine and moving along as I thought they would.  Life was good.  And then the building started across from my unit......














Noise, Noise and more noise.

Yep, I definitely put up with a lot while the other buildings were being built and my waiting for the cable to arrive. I think that was the hardest part - waiting for the cable. Do you know what it's like to go months on end without TV?  or a fast download?  I had to resort to watching the same DVD movies over and over and over again. Thank goodness I LOVE movies! I think I went through my library of films several times over. So when cable finally arrived, I welcomed it with open arms!

Once I had my cable in place and my connection to the Internet greatly improved, I settled in as best I could. At least I had pre-ordered a refrigerator but it managed to get put in place without my having painted the back wall. To this day, I still have THAT to do. And I did manage to paint a few walls to get my colors right - olive green for the kitchen - dining area and brick brown for the living area. I found the perfect sage green sofa (deep and comfy) and ordered it post haste (it went well with the hardwood floors and brick walls). One of the two oversized comfy chairs I had purchased when I first arrived in Missouri sits in the living room and once it is re-covered, it will fit in perfectly with the scheme of things. While waiting for the sofa to arrive, I managed to get to JC Penny and pick out some curtains. They laid on the floor, in their original packaging for a VERY long time! When the sofa finally arrived, I was able to stretch out full body length to watch television. I thought I had died and gone to heaven! Until then I had only sat in the comfy chairs and there's hardly room to stretch out in them!

So things were progressing. I was in love with my condo, knew that eventually everything would find its right place and had only to drown out the pounding of nails and screeching saws to keep my sanity. A small price to pay, it seemed, at the time for owning my own home. But things were to change.

Approximately 3 weeks after I moved in, my unit developed a "hum". Yep, I went shopping early one morning and came home to a noise that is simply indescribable. Well, think the clashing of puts and pans in a metal duct - VERY LOUD and constant; by that I mean 24/7 constant.  I quickly ran to the salesperson's on site office, dragged her over to my unit, and together we tried to track down the noise. It seemed to emanate from the main bedroom bathroom but as the day progressed it seemed to be coming from the main bedroom wall where the window was located. Putting my head to the wall, I could hear the most horrendous noise - like someone having left an electric razor on. Only amplified 100 times!

I ran outside to try to figure out the problem but I could find nothing. I checked the electrical boxes BELOW my window and I thought I could discern a light hum. So I called the electrical people and asked them to come out. They did and found 2 things wrong with the set-up though neither was my hum.

The drone went on and on. Hours turned into days - days turned into weeks - weeks turned into months. I tried everything to keep the noise at bay. Earplugs. Head phones. Loud TV. Sleeping with pillows over my head. Everything. The hum went on and on. And slowly but surely, my feet started to tingle. And tingle. And tingle until I finally realized that the floor was vibrating and that the hum emanated from under the floor boards.

I called the builder. The City Inspector. The sales people. No one could hear the hum - no one could feel the vibration. Why?  Because they were in the condo a very short time and were not attuned to the noise.  Either that, or they just didn't want to acknowledge there was a problem with the unit.  I began to think I was going slowly mad.......

When it rained, the noise was less. Go figure.  When it didn't rain, the hum along with the construction that was outside kept me awake ALL the time. I didn't sleep much and I certainly wasn't thinking straight. Whenever I had to go out of town I loved it so much I didn't want to go back to my condo. My dream home had become my nightmare!

No one could help because no one knew what was causing the problem. And when it finally dawned on me that if I had the problem, maybe my upstairs and downstairs neighbor ALSO had the problem. So a check was in order. But that outcome I will save for another post.....

Stay tuned!

2002 to 2006 - My Life In Missouri

It's just a small antique mall but it is located right across the street from where I live - both past AND present.  Currently, I have 2 glass cases in the store, mostly items I feel are better suited to a retail outlet rather than the Internet.

To continue my story - once the decision was made that I really was moving to Missouri the really big issues started to kick in - like how I was going to dispose of my furniture, where was I going to live and which route was I going to take to get there.  Well, believe it or not, I sold all my furniture on EBAY - yes I was amazed I sold my large pieces on the Internet.  A few other things went at a disastrous yard sale I decided to throw in my apartment (needless to say it didn't quite work the way I wanted it to).  After all the odds n ends were gone, I packed my car to capacity and found that I couldn't pack my  wonderful 1930s Art Deco bed with all the gingerbread (that REALLY hurt).  Even now I wonder who claimed it after I let!  Once my apartment was empty, I got into my Ford Aerostar and drove to Las Vegas, the first stop in a 2-1/2 day journey. 

Las Vegas was strictly overnight.  Then, due to storms in the area, I decided to go the north route through Colorado rather than the south through Arizona.  I don't know if it was a mistake or not but I will never again take the northerly direction - with the rain, the wind and that horrible canyon drive near Vail, I really was half scared out of my mind thinking at any moment I would lose control and plunge into the river below.  I still do not know how I did it but I arrived in Denver completely exhausted and NEVER wanting to see another canyon as long as I lived. 

Morning broke and I drove through Kansas into Colombia, MO and stayed overnight with my cousin and her husband.  The next day, I drove into St. Louis and stayed with my Aunt and Uncle.  Both of them couldn't believe that I was actually there.  Well, I guess they had some inkling as the 35 boxes of personal belongings I had shipped from Los Angeles resided comfortably in their garage.  I think the postage of everything I shopped cost me around $1,000.  Yep, I had a lot of stuff. 

The next day I went around to the apartment building I had picked from the Internet and found that my unit would not be ready for another week.  Thank goodness I could bunk with my aunt and uncle. 

The week's respite from moving into my apartment gave me the chance to go out and purchase a bed and 2 fabulous comfy sofa chairs that I could sink into.  I had decided pretty much that I wasn't going to buy anything else as I wanted to buy a condo or house in the area eventually.  I didn't know if I'd ever be able to do it but why spend money on something you don't need.  Soon enough I was moving into a 2 bed unit with fireplace and a washer/dryer for the horrendous sum of $600 per month.  I thought I had died and gone to heaven as my apartment in Los Angeles was costing me (when I left) $800 per month AND it didn't have the washer/dryer. 

For 6 years I went to garage and estate sales, antique malls and scoured the Internet for items to buy and sell and I was doing just fine.  By the end of 2006, I had saved $10,000 for a down payment on a condo and my father rewarded me by matching my $10,000 with the same amount.  Now I could buy the home of my dreams but where to buy and when.  That was the next problem to be solved. 

And on that note, I will save the next part of my story for my next installment. 

Stay tuned.