New Temari

I've been working on a bunch of new temari decorations, and finally have two of them ready to show off! I hope to get them listed in my Etsy shop today, but I'm getting ready to go off to physical therapy soon so I'll see how I feel after I've had my head pulled. The traction feels good while it's happening, but afterward it can feel like, well, like someone's been pulling on my head.

I've Been Tagged!

I've been tagged by Hot Rocks! If you haven't visited her blog before, be sure to visit when you leave here. She makes the most beautiful jewelry, and my favorite part is the way she names the pieces. I'm not going to tell you more, you'll just have to go see for yourselves!

So I'm supposed to share seven things about me, some weird, some just random. I can't remember all the personal details I've shared here before and I'm too lazy to look them up, so forgive me if I'm telling you things you already know.

1. I've worn glasses since I was 5 years old.

2. My favorite color is purple.

3. As a child I would eat only a couple of vegetables, and one of them was carrots. But only if the carrots were cut like matchsticks and cooked in a brown sugar glaze. Round carrot slices in glaze? No way. And that's still my favorite way to eat carrots.

4. I would probably make a very good hermit. I prefer to work alone, and rarely feel the need to go out just to be social.

5. I've always thought I'd like to live in Montana, but I've never been there.

6. I often read children's picture books, all by myself, for fun. I've even been known to place requests for specific picture books at my local library.

7. My first "real" job was selling vacuum cleaners. I lasted about an hour.

If I follow the rules, I'm supposed to tag seven other bloggers to share seven facts about themselves. I am not always good at following rules (hmmm, is that fact #8?), so if you'd like to be tagged just leave a comment asking me to add you, and I'll add a link to your blog here.

Lucky Fortune Cookie Boxes

Between the tax marathon and starting physical therapy this week, I've been exhausted. I decided to brighten things up with another special blog-only sale!

I have these cute little fortune cookie boxes in stock. I have small ones, approx. 3" x 1.75" x 1.5" each, in dark red, light pink, green, and lavender; and large ones, approx. 4" x 2.5" x 2" each, in black, blue, gray, and bright pink. You can see photos of all the colors here.

They're perfect for storing a bit of jewelry or other small treasure, and also make nice place card holders at dinner parties. A light squeeze at the base opens the box.

I normally sell a set of 3 small cookies for $8.45, and a set of 3 large cookies for $11.00, plus $5.95 shipping. Get yours now, before the holiday shopping frenzy starts, and I'll give you 1 free set with each 3 sets you purchase. I'll also charge you only the actual shipping cost, so if you only want one set you won't get hit with a big postage charge.

Interested? Send an email to luckygirltrading [at] yahoo.com with the number of sets you'd like, your color choices, and mailing address. I'll confirm I have the quantities and colors you want, weigh them in a shipping box, and send you a PayPal invoice. If you feel more comfortable making a purchase through an established e-commerce site, you can get these at my eBay store--but I can't give you any discount there.

October 15 is Tax Day for Procrastinators

Lucky people tend to be on top of things. I was not on top of our taxes this year, so when April 15 rolled around we filed an extension. I really didn't want to delve into the taxes because I knew I hadn't kept up with things very well and it would mean hours and hours of checking invoices to get costs, counting inventory on hand, and reconciling sales records and shipping records and fees. Not a big job if you work at it daily, or even weekly. I made sure to keep every bit of information I might possibly need, I just didn't put it into any sort of order, spreadsheet, or database. I threw everything in a box. A really large box. UGH.

I spent several hours each day last week working on our records. And all day, every day this week. I hate to admit it, but all work and no play makes LuckyGirl cranky. I've also had to listen to Mr. LuckyGirl say, "if you had listened to me and used QuickBooks this would have been a much easier job," over and over again.

So QuickBooks people, if you're listening, Mr. LuckyGirl is usually right about this sort of thing. If you want to send me some software I promise I will blog repeatedly about how much easier it made my job. I do want to be on top of things, I know that it makes life go much smoother when I am. And often smooth means lucky!

I hit the "transmit your tax return button now" button at about 9 p.m. this evening, so I had a good three hours to spare. Anybody else wait as long as I did to file their taxes? And I'd love any tips you'd like to share. I've already got the big one down: don't put it off until the last minute.