Dust bunnies banished

I feel like the dust is finally starting to settle. Actually, since I've been rousing a lot of dust as I've moved things around, and have then swiffered, swept and vacuumed, there isn't too much dust left for settling. The store is starting to feel more familiar and more "mine". I've gotten rid of all but one grey tray, I've gotten a lot of little wooden dishes and trays and removed the majority of the glass bowls, and I think the wood makes things look richer and warmer. I negated all of my mom's hard work by removing the dividers from the wooden trays with Plexiglas tops, and putting my little cocoa brown boxes in instead (I can fit double the boxes in there without the dividers!) I've moved tables so many times, I should have muscles like Hercules. Of course, nothing I moved weighed more than 10 pounds so it makes sense that my muscles have remained puny. Since the store is starting to look and feel the way I want it to, I've begun to work on my studio/workspace in the back. Still a work in progress, and I've yet to create something back there, but since I've got a few PMC classes coming up this month (yay and eep!) it was time to clear out the clutter back there.

I continue to be amazed and delighted by the people I meet here on a daily basis. Saturday was bonkers...The "Discover the Treasures of Manlius" brought a lot of people in the store, which was great! But also stressful (boys with cap guns) since I had to staple the business cards to their ribbons, which seems like a small thing, but when it's busy and hectic, it's just one extra step you'd rather not take. I had some real big spenders. Then, halfway through making a HUGE sale (with like 50 items that I had to enter in individually and I can't even explain the frustrating process of doing that. I can't just say something was $1.50. I have to figure out what the item is, whether it's "loose" or "glass at $1.50 or "jade at $1.50". Anyway, that alone takes forever, so I have this big order, and the computer craps out. Just stops working. And the next woman in line has to be at a graduation in Syracuse in less than half hour. But see, these people are all just SO NICE that they both see I'm about to cry and am sweating profusely, and say "we can come back later". The best part is that the DID come back later, and both of them would like to take a PMC class with me! Then a half hour before close, I met Crystal who wanted to make a blinging sparkly necklace for a wedding she's going to later this summer. I was mentally drained, but Denise Sachs Mishalanie of Whirled Peas (an aside, she and my mom were goddesses on Saturday. I would have been curled fetal and drooling by 4pm if I had not had their immense help and patience!)...Denise helped Crystal pick out beads and design a necklace. Crystal came back on Tuesday and we put the necklace together...and you'll never guess what Crystal does for a living...Social Work! As my mom would say "doo de doo de doo de doo de" (no, my mom is not demented, it's the tune to Twilight Zone). Crystal was a lot of fun. I'd like to say she's my first new friend. I mean, I've met a lot of friendly people, but I think Crystal will be back, and I forsee a glass or wine or two with her somewhere down the road. I'm sort of trolling for friends actually. It's kind of hard to make new friends after school. It's not like 4th grade when you can just go up to a classmate and say "will you be my friend" and have a sleepover. Well, maybe it can be. I do, after all, live with my parents. Just like I did in 4th grade. Hey Crystal, will you be my friend? You can spend the night at my house. My mom will make cookies.

I find it incredible the designs people come up with. Someone will come in and say "oh, I've never done this before" so I tell them the basics (here's a bead board, try to fill up 7 inches for a bracelet) and they come up with these gorgeous ideas! A woman was in earlier this week (I'm losing track of days) who made a bracelet for her sister's upcoming 60th birthday. It was a nautical theme, and she used silver fish and shell charms, interspersed with pearls and turquoise. It was something I'd never have come up with, but was stunning.

I'm itching to start making things again. I'm pretty well caught up on the business end of things today, it's rainy and dismal out, and so far a rather slow day. So I'm going to stop talking about making things, and actually make something!