Wednesday, October 9, 2019

One Step. Two Steps.


I love this photo of a swan, serenely swimming on a calm lake.  I wish I felt half this serene at the minute.

With three weeks to the first sale, I am woefully 'behind' where I had hoped to be.  But I'm also struggling to deal with shutting down my business (in very small steps, and it won't be shut down until year end but I needed to deal with some stuff before then).

I'm also dealing with a distinct lack of energy with which to propel myself at what actually needs to be done.  And so I have had to revise my goals and accept that almost none of what I wanted to accomplish between the conference and the first sale of the autumn will happen.

How little I mind gives me the clue that I am well ready to close my business!

To that end I met with the bank today and got some questions answered.  Things are now set up so that come January I will be able to close my business chequing account, then close my two sales tax accounts as soon as I've filed the taxes for those.

This morning I took 'off' and met a friend for coffee where we vented at each other, collected our energy and headed off for the rest of our days.  I even managed to knit a couple of rows.

This afternoon I have business administrivia to deal with.  Report and remit sales tax for GST (I did manage to get PST done the other day), go through my VISA bill and then see if I have enough money to pay it off.  With three shows coming up, I'm hoping that I can pay off my VISA bill and still have a little left over for the insurance and the rent for the rest of the year at the annex.

The local consignment shop has been notified that I will be bringing inventory in after the shows are over.  And I may try a Christmas sale via this blog.  The guild also has a sale in the guild room and I usually heavily discount discontinued lines or orphans.  That will happen Nov. 30/Dec. 1.

Last night we moved six bins of tea towels from the annex here, plus five boxes of yarn have been tagged to go to one of the local thrift shops.  But there is still a huge heap of stuff that will need to come here - somewhere.

The Woolhouse will get shipped today or tomorrow.  Doug has been working on the shipping crate and it's almost ready.  That leaves a fairly large space at one end of the studio where boxes or bins can be stacked.  I still have all my teaching stuff, because I need a lot of it for the Olds program.  I've committed to teaching at Fibre Week in June and offered to teach at one of the satellite programs.  If they'll have me.  There is also the heap of stuff for bobbin lace, which I hope to get back to.  The spinning fibre is already here.

I hear rumours that students are getting close to being ready to send in homework for marking.  With three in the Calgary area, who knows, maybe I'll bring home boxes again?  Or not.

We are beginning to claw our way out of the gigantic mess the studio devolved into as we re-arranged things, threw things away, sold things.  There are still AVL parts, but I have no time or energy to try to detail what they are so they continue to sit. 

While I am becoming friends with the Megado, there are still issues I want to refine/fine tune.  That is just going to take time and I've run out.  So last night I beamed and started threading another rayon chenille warp.  There are scarves to be fringe twisted.  And more to weave.

But I also have more hemming to be done and Doug will go on the weekend to deal with the last load of mats/runners - and then another two dozen mats and two runners will have to be done.

At least we have a sunny day today, which has helped my mood enormously.  Somehow things always look less fraught and more manageable when the sun shines.

I had thought I would be picking up my two reserves at the library today, but the parking lot there was horrible and after trying to park, gave up.  I'll try again tomorrow when it might be easier.  I'll be grateful when the construction to the entrance is done. 

For now?  I need to tackle the administrivia.  Then see about threading, sleying and tying on that scarf warp. 

Goals.  Working towards at least the bare minimum of what I'd hoped to get done.  Progress is progress, even if it is just one or two steps.


2 comments:

Nancy said...

I love that picture too, but it also reminds me that while on the surface the swan is gliding... underneath the surface of the water he/she may be paddling for all it's worth! Thanks for letting us see your paddling - I don't know about others, but your words help me think about my own stash, goals, and expectations for myself. I'm glad that you have actual faces to vent to, and not just a keyboard. Our friends are such a great comfort!

Laura Fry said...

Yes, a little venting with friends really does help. :)