Pet Pieve on Bills

Today I received yet another request to go to e-billing "to save money and the environment".  Well lets just take a closer look at this argument!

• Convenient e-mail notifications when your bill is ready for viewing online.
  Of course that depends on the success of my mailbox, computer health, and then having it arrive on a day I don't stick it in a "Follow up" folder because today is really full of emails to read and reply!  
• No paper clutter or misplaced bills. 
  Balder-dash!  I still will print it out using my own paper, ink, printer and electricity!  Then I have to file it in the "right" folder in my office immediately or the PaperMonster will strike again! 
• Having the same information and look of your paper bill - but more: build access to 13 months billing history and gain the ability to manage your account online. 
  Hello... that is why I have my own accounting system and filing cabinet!  If I am savvy enough to have a computer, I probably already have this in place!
• Security - all personal data is held in strict confidence behind firewalls. The bills are encrypted as they are displayed across the Internet, assuring confidentiality of information - and peace of mind. 
  Well, your pitching to a person who has suffered from keyloggers and virus issue and computer crashes.  I read in the news endlessly about major corporations getting hacked, stolen data, computer issues and on and on.  Internet Security is a fraudulent term, in my humble opinion.  Pulleeeze - don't sham me.
• Helping the environment by going paper-free. 
  Oh, you mean your environment at the office? or my environment and printing paper here? Why don't you just mail the bill in one envelope and forget all the other crap you stuff in!  Keep jobs at the Post Office too!

 Every time a corporation wants to shift it's cost elsewhere it either takes jobs out of our country or waves Mom & Apple Pie in my face.  This is one small issue but it bugs me.

One more thought:  is your great aunt and grandmother on the computer too?  If not, they are probably getting "charged extra" for the privilege of receiving a bill in the mail to pay the bill!  Think about it.

Happy Cockadoodle Day!

Well thanks to the many wonderful customers... and Etsy Treasury creators... and super team members all around the website... and the Vintage Village.com, today I marked my 700th sale!  It's very exciting and confirming that focusing on just one shop can be a good move.

Something that I struggled with for over a year has proven itself:  simplifying in the internet business world is good  housekeeping.  Every new site that comes along tells me ... "We can do more for you!"  or "join us - we're the fastest growing..."   The claims always sound great and on the surface it looks like a major event.

But for any newbie in the internet business world, I have one solid piece of advice:  pick your corner and work it consistently.  Every thought and every little pebble you cast, causes ripples beyond your wildest imagination!  The more I remain focused on one store and a small handful of social networking sites, the better the sales.  Without a staff, it is just impossible to spread the time over too many places.  I refuse to work like a workaholic any more.  What is the point?  Life is too short and there are so many roses yet to smell!

So, Thank YOU! to all my followers and customers.  You make working with my vintage goodies fun!

Fearless

Looking forward to a week long workshop at the Option Institute in MA called Fearless.  If you order from the Etsy shop this week, please know your purchase will be processed on Sept 19. Sometimes I really wish I had an assistant to cover my tracks!!  Adventure bound... will be amazing, I'm sure.

Rochester Tweed Ride

Oh I am so tickled!  Just found this blog through Etsy because of a Treasury that included my ladies straw fedora style hat! 

http://rochestertweedride.blogspot.com/  Come see it.  

I do believe I have some tweed jackets still in storage - I'll check them out!  and these two stylish hats for gents could certainly be costume fun!  Both are smaller size 7 1/4 and suede.

In any event - this looks like a fun local hoo-ha!  Yea Rochester!  Fall in upstate NY is just beautiful.  Genesee Valley Park is gorgeous! 

Where is your Thought going?

Some time ago this little ditty arrived in an email:

Watch your thoughts; they become words.

Watch your words; they become actions;

Watch your actions; they become habits.

Watch your habits they become character;

Watch your character; it becomes your destiny

 From my personal spiritual work and growth through Unity and other teachers, I have learned that "thoughts are things" is not just a catchy little idea - it is the truth of life.  From Old Thought to New Thought to physicists & science - the connection is real and evident.  If you have doubts about the concept, then I invite you to do your own experiment.  For one week, speak only positive thoughts.  If you catch yourself with a negative idea, melt it away in your mind before you speak it forth.

 Watch the magic happen.  You will be amazed. 
Today is a great day to start.

Etsy Treasuries

What a fun surprise - woke up this morning to find my listings have been featured in 4 different treasuries in one day!  Now that is awesome!  See my link on the side bar for AT in Etsy Treasuries.   

Mystery Silver Jewelry

The game of identification is never ending in this business and truly is the fun part.  Well, in all honesty its one of the fun parts!  Having recently acquired a wonderful group of estate jewelry from a woman who did extensive traveling, I am all over the silver resource sites for ID help.

This amazing pin has the hallmark   S&Co  where the o is raised and has a line under it.  I've attributed it to Sydney & Co.  

 But the second marking is a little baffling:  Anchor - Lion - T
This indicates sterling silver and Birmingham - but the form of the T suggests an earlier time than the style of the pin.  Hmm?



  
 And here is my big mystery mark this week.  Etched into the back I can barely make out :  F I N N  .  There appears to be a small shield under it.  Over to the right a little bit looks to be Made in Norw...  The last letters are not there.

Even though small in size - I have to say this small brooch totally intrigues me.

Antique White on White

Beautiful antique hankies  are the prettiest little pieces of fiber artwork!  Every time I have batch to soak and then iron I become mesmerized at the amazing detail that went into so many of these old lovelies.  The tradition of giving hankies as gifts either for weddings or friendship is a heart warming gesture.  So many creative and personal uses too: sachettes, baby caps, pocket trims, framed for the wall and of course the walk down the isle!  I just refreshed an elegant batch of all white on white hankies on the Etsy shop.  Take a peek and you'll understand why I love these sweethearts so much.   Enjoy!

Time for another time move

Change is in the air again!  That's the only constant I've found after all these years of antiques business.  Effective this week, I will no longer run the website which I started back in the 1990s era!  It has been a great keystone but it's time for new directions.

I love the blog environment, so this is where I will focus my product postings and thoughts & Tidbits.  I'll be able to show you much more and share many more events in this wonderful format.

If you have been a Link partner from my website, I hope you will continue to follow on this blog.  Onward we go!

An Old and True Thought

I wrote this piece a couple a years ago, and it is still one of my favorite writings.  So with the newer format of a Blog coming into being, I'm sharing it here.  Enjoy!

Thanks to the quite early morning hours of the day, there's always time for coffee and quiet contemplation. One day, as I was reading the morning dose of doom --aka the newspaper-- it occurred to me that we merchants in the antiques business attempt to thrive in the toughest business on earth! 

The major grocery stores easily beckon your dollars week after week. Why? You need food, obviously. Your body takes it in, works it over, attempts to live in spite of it, and then throws it out. You need more of the same.

The automotive industry works on the same principle. As we build bigger and bigger communities, the need for the 4-wheeled monster grows. It demands your money day after day. You fill the tank, drive to work and drive home-- drive to school and drive home-- drive to shop and drive home. Drive till the tank runs dry. So goes the spark plugs, the tires, the muffler and the rest of the vehicle as well. You need more. 

The big business of education has the same philosophy too. When you look at the long term goal of smarts and degrees, how could anyone argue? We send our little dears off to pre-school, then kindergarten, then elementary, then high school. Now they go on to college for 4 and then on to masters and eventually doctorates for some. The more certificates on the wall, the better we seem to feel. Somehow more is better. 

But the antiques business has it all backwards. We who have chosen to keep the flames and artifacts of history alive and well don't get it. We don't accept that an endless supply of "a thing" is necessarily a good thing. We try to convince our customer that this "XX" will last another 100 years because it's made so well. Or we say, this "xx" is rare and only a few exist. It's unique. We insist that recycling life's goods is a good thing while we seem to live in a sea of throw away needs. 

Ours is a special task and one that needs the fires fanned by the guard at hand. Antiques merchants are faced with the job of re-training a customer base who have been grossly conditioned by the mass producers of the throw-away world. Lasting quality is a virtue. Non-throw-a-way goods are an asset. A cheap look-alike is not necessarily an equivalent substitute. Quality may seem to cost more upfront but it is always cheaper in the long run. 

Some things you just can't duplicate. It's the variety and uniqueness of each lasting treasure that makes life interesting and worthwhile. Ours is the business of nurturing that thought. The job is to keep it alive.