Monday Morning You Sure Look Fine... Again!

Coffee in the Starbucks big go-cup, laughter and chatter from the PTA meeting as music. It's Monday which means all the "stuff" that accumulated over the weekend has to be fit in today in addition to the last PTA meeting before the holiday market. The highlights of the weekend include Friday night's high jinx--some fine, upstanding citizen(s) decided it would be fun to break out the back window of Dave's Seebring convertible. Our insurance company obviously feels that accidents and vandalism don't happen on weekends as there was no one in at our agent's office Saturday nor was there anyone in the referral area who could tell me where I could get the work done so I could get a jump on it before today. Then last night we discovered that Saturday morning we left a credit card at breakfast and I need to run pick it up from the restaurant today.

Yesterday Dave had to work some so we sent him away to Kavarna for peace and quiet and Jessie and I headed for the studio. I fired a commission piece for one of my Florida galleries and J broke out her new sewing kit. The photos at right are her making a little purse complete with closure strap with buttonhole and button sewn on. Wow. She is good and did it all by herself--right down to cutting the buttonhole! It was a good day (and I was tempted to post since we were already in the studio).

And now it's Monday and the week is out of the gate with a leap and a bound. I have hired an assistant and she starts today. It's scary, it's exciting, it's an employee... it's a big step.

Today is bird-bath fusing (cool new technique incorporating frit and paint). I train Stacy and start her on inventory, moving molds, breaking down boxes, oh my. I plan the firing schedule for the rest of the year (with the orders I have and the work I need for upcoming shows--I also need to leave room to accommodate other orders as they come in) and I mail the international book orders.

Dee is coming down to help with continued studio set-up tomorrow. Tomorrow is also the first day of official, full production and the commensurate first firing of Big Bertha--got to finish setting up the counter-weight system for the lid.

Wednesday, Bill and Elaine are coming from Elliott Metal Works so we can design our booth set-ups for ACRE and the BMAC next year and look at our next collaborative design direction. I'm setting up a big conference table in the office and borrowing the card table chairs from the house. The first official gathering in the new studio.

Thursday is a Kavarna day and I will be writing my two articles for Glass Patterns Quarterly (birdbath project) and Profitable Glass (start-up issues: can you price your work to make a living?) and working on all my websites. Completion? No. Progress? You bet!

Friday is slotted for mop-up on anything that doesn't get done on the other days and general settling into the saddle of the new studio. And maybe shopping. Shopping would be fun. Shopping for floor lamps for the office, a printer for the studio, shelving for back stock for the One of a Kind Show (Dee convinced me that there is no need to carry the bezillion lb commercial steel shelving units up to Chicago and back just to hold my back stock. Duh.), etc. It's always good to end a week with shopping.