I'm so well-rounded

I decided to take advantage of a relatively quiet afternoon to sit on my butt and read for awhile.

I went over to my nightstand to pick up a book and saw this:


Yup, I put Dostoevsky right on the same pile as my most recent Glamour issues. At least you can't say I am limited in my reading material!

I wasn't really sure why I felt the need to read Russian literature, but my husband, observant guy that he is, suggested it was because of all the snow we got recently.


Not nearly as much snow as some other areas got, but definitely the most we've had so far this winter. Note the track our dog made between the tree and the porch from running in circles around the house.

In jewelry-related news, one of my wonderful cousins is designing a new webpage for Mischievous Kitty, so keep an eye out for that in the near future! :-)

March Craft Shows!

I'm planning on selling my wares at 2, possibly 3 craft shows in the Lehigh Valley in March. I'll post details once things are definite.

So far I think my biggest challenge craft-show wise is figuring out which shows are worth my time and money. I've only done two so far... One had a good turnout and I made a pretty decent amount of sales, but another was not very well-publicized and didn't have much of a turnout, so I just barely made a profit for the day. Hopefully after this first year I'll have a good feel for which shows are good and which are not so much.

My biggest challenge overall? Taxes. Filing tax returns was SO much easier before I started a business. There are advantages and disadvantages to the fact that I'm selling a physical good, as opposed to some sort of service.

Advantage: I can claim use of my home office for business purposes, because I store all my inventory there.

Disadvantage: Because I store inventory, I find myself wishing I'd paid more attention during my accounting courses in college. When I got to the part on TaxAct about inventory valuation, I went huh? I remember learning about it, but it's not something I've had to use for more than 5 years, and it didn't even occur to me that I'd have to figure out the cost of goods sold. The only thing I remember about inventory is LIFO and FIFO.

Thank goodness for the IRS website and its Tax Guide for Small Businesses. Sure, it's incredibly tedious, but if you're considering starting a small business and want to make sure you do things right, it's a must-read.

Making My Office Pretty

It took me 9 months in this house to finally tear down the wallpaper and paint in my office. Another month and a half later and I just now got around to putting up curtains.

A definite improvement. The window is so big, and it looked so sad and bare before the curtains.

My desk, however, is a complete and utter mess. There are so many things on it that just don't belong there. Piles of junk mail I haven't thrown out and IRA and bank statements I haven't filed... a box of green tea, a candy cane (gives you an idea of how long it's been since I cleared off my desk), expired coupons, a box of emery boards, a bunch of beads, chains, and clasps that I wish I could say I just bought... but they've been sitting there for weeks, unopened.

I dread sitting down to pay bills lately, but it has more to do with facing this mess than parting with hard-earned money. I think I have a new goal.

But I'll save cleaning my desk for tomorrow. Now it's time to drive my husband out of the living room with "Ghost Whisperer" and "What Not to Wear" while I wait for the snow to come. ;-)

Returning a Favor

Since my wonderful husband has been shamelessly promoting my jewelry business on Facebook, I think I'll return the favor.

If you're in/near New York and have no plans for tonight, come to the Gotham Comedy Club's New Talent Showcase at 8:00 and hear him tell funny jokes! :-)

Giveaway!

Just a friendly reminder to head on over to www.ourcitylights.org and enter to win one of my necklaces!

And when you're done with that, check out Diana's Etsy shop! :-)

On a completely unrelated, but adorable, note:

Here's a picture of my dog, Elvis Costello Tickle, curled up on the couch with his monkey this past weekend.

If he looks sad, it's because (a) something had just scared him (no idea what, that poor dog is scared of everything!), and (b) my husband and I were about to leave him home alone on a Saturday afternoon and he is INCREDIBLY codependent. ;-)