And I'm back!

I had the time of my life at Cowgirl Camp this year!

What a glorious, relaxing, fun and challenging time I had!

I'll share a few pictures tomorrow as I haven't downloaded yet since I've been unpacking, tending to my horse (he got a minor boo-boo on his hind hoof), catching up at home and with my business.

Happy Monday!

XXOO

Another week off...

I am just back from spending the weekend (plus an extra day to our doctor visits) and am gearing up for another trip....our annual "Cowgirl Camp"!  

Today filled up with a lot of extra tasks (one being I am showing our house~the one we used to live in...and I hope I sell it!!) and tomorrow will be filled with preparation and packing to leave on Wednesday, but my mind is still on business.

I am aware of the two new additions to the doll industry, that being 

the Doll Artist Union and Baby Bugsy Boo's selling site.

I've had a little bit of time to check the "Union" out and I want to be sure that my followers know that I have no problem with the organizers of this group but that it is not a legal "union" as some would think with the word "union", for instance when I worked for the Safeway Corporation, there was an employee's union, one in which we paid into and had legally binding contracts, rules and benefits.  The word is used to describe the unity of artists.  

I did not belong to the Union at Safeway and I do not expect to belong to the Doll Artist Union.   

I will continue to operate how I have in the past 12 years  :)

And I plan to sit back and see how the new selling site goes.  I won't have a doll to list for a while so that should give me some time to watch.  

Two complaints I have with eBay are the high final value fees (I paid eBay over $750 for the sale of Mack) and the lack of seller protection.  

They SAY they have seller protection, but I have rarely seen it enforced but I HAVE seen a lot of artists without their paycheck and the without doll they sold under the pretense of having a paycheck to a buyer who did a credit card reversal or eBay/PayPal claim against the seller and got to keep their money and the doll.

On the new selling site, the fees are about half of what eBay charges and seller protection is yet to be investigated, along with how much traffic the new site brings to sellers.  

I really do not like change but with Photobucket's new HIGH rates and the potential of eBay to remove the HTML option from auctions, I may have to change.  I have NOT renewed with Photobucket (I think I forgot to talk about this when I got the news of this price increase...from $25 a year to...gulp...$399 a year!) and I have not yet got a clear word on the HTML option with eBay.  

I WON'T be renewing the Photobucket.  I've paid $25 a year on two accounts for about the last 9 years, plus, I am paid up on those accounts until February of 2018 but they have made my accounts unable to access and use until I pay the higher fees that allow 3rd party use, such as what is required in eBay HTML for templates and the share pictures on sites such as Doll Fan.  

There is a way around using your own photos on Doll Fan without Photobucket as Doll Fan has their own gallery where we can store pictures.   You are smart Doll Fan!  Thanks!!

Okay...back to this day,

Have a great week!

I'll think of you while in the mountains of Eastern Oregon atop a dun horse I call Ruger  :)

Debbie

This week

We just returned home from a family reunion and I am back to work for a few days before we take more time off for medical appointments and a horse clinic.

I have began banding up mohair in preparation of a month-long mohair processing adventure!

I finished the little Tiny Tally full body silicone mini but am waiting for part of her outfit to arrive from the UK before I photograph her and offer her for sale.  Oh, that reminds me, I need to send in my camera for repairs. 

I also have finished the mini Ashton Drake Emily that I started for my granddaughter months ago.  I am waiting for her custom clothes to arrive too, from the US and the UK.

I do not have any other dolls on the table at this time.  With all that is going on, mohair is the best thing to be working on and it's been a while since I have processed so all is good.

At least for now.  Mom is holding steady but we all know that that could change at any time.  

My brothers memorial service (private family service) will be over Labor Day weekend.  

We all have to go through these seasons of our lives.  

Hugs,

Debbie

Have you missed me?

I can honestly say that over the last year+, I am being refined by the fire.

Wednesday night, July 5th, I received a phone call that my brother Ken, age 56 was taken by ambulance to the hospital and not expected to make it.

They later attempted to Life-Flight him to a larger hospital where he passed away enroute.  

56 is MUCH too young.

My family does not have the official cause of death yet, but he had been struggling with pneumonia.

I rushed the 4 hours to my mothers side.

Miraculously, her failing heart survived something I could not even imagine.  

Children are not supposed to go before their parents.  

Mom is SUPPOSED to have 24 hour care but the family that resides where she does are not able to come together to give it.  

She does have 27 hours a week (3 hrs a day, 7X a week) of "caregiver" help.  

We are trying very hard to convince her to come to live with us here.  

I gave her a photo tour of our home and showed her what her spaces would look like and how she could enjoy the deck, gardens, flower and watching the horses frolic in the pasture. 

Time will tell.  

Well, I have missed YOU and now it's time to catch up from being away 5 days at a place where I could only get limited internet when I was able to go to the Library, which turned out to be only enough time to get the most critical tasks done, like print a label to send Mack on his way home.  

My little Moon baby!  :)

Rest in peace Big Brother.  

Until someday maybe we shall meet again.