Heading South....

~Packing up. Making lists. Programing the GPS. Getting out of this cold! Good Lord, it's gotten cold here in the Northeast. Reading 17 degrees at the moment on our trusty LL Bean thermometer although it's nice to have central heat in this old house after so many years. Many a night we sat here watching the rug blow up and down as the wind barged through under the old floorboards. When your house foundation consists of granite boulders spaced few and far between the sill and the ground, it's an open invitation to not only the blustering howls of winter but a few critters looking for shelter as well. Oh, the stories I could tell. But now we're toasty and warm here on the inside. Ah...but I miss being able to go out in the yard and fuss around. It's just too cold and everything is frozen solid. So, it's off to warmer parts.

~We enjoy our winters in Florida, something I never thought I'd be saying. When hubby first suggested going for two months many years ago, I agreed but secretly harbored the fear that I'd go nuts after three weeks. To my surprise, I loved every second of it and the time just flew by like those giant pelicans that swoop overhead while we're taking in the rays at the beach. Now we're there a little more than four months. It's all good. Fun loving people...most of them bionic, but full of spit and vinegar nonetheless. Someone should do a documentary on the life that seniors lead during the winter in the sunshine state. Most of our neighbors and friends range from their mid seventies to their mid eighties and they all run circles around hubby and I who are the babies of the bunch. Not a group to take pity on, that's for sure.

~So we're off. The picture along with this post is credited to one of our southern neighbors who had the good sense to get out of Dodge early and was there for the shuttle launch in November. We spend the winter along the Space Coast where the temps never get much over 80. (I don't like it too hot!) Watching the launches at the Kennedy Space Center from our beach across the street is just one of the advantages of living in our area. The nighttime launches are the best.

~I'll pick up with a new post when we arrive sometime next week. We meander on our way down and make a vacation out of the trip, stopping along the way to visit friends and family. I'm grousing right now at all the work it takes to get ready but I guarantee I'll have a big smile on my face when I'm sitting in the sunshine next week!

~Oh...by the way...I do take my sewing machine and all the makings for my aprons with me.

~Check us out at http://www.apronsgonewild.etsy.com/

Merry Christmas
from
Cape Cod.
~Here it is, five days before Christmas, and I'm starting to stress about all I have yet to do. Had the mistaken assumption that once all was shipped....gifts, apron orders, etc., that I was done! Reality really smarts when it slaps you in the face. Eighteen plus inches of snow doesn't help a "last minute lizzie" either. All the shoveling done today will no doubt be drifted in tomorrow. I'll need Santa's sled complete with several very buff reindeer.
~Ah...but all the little kiddies must be happy, and that's what Christmas is all about. On the other hand...I'd still like to get my shopping, wrapping, baking and cooking done before Friday.
~Hoping that through all the stress of the season, you find the Santa Claus within you.

By the Thousands...Every girl needs an apron!

~I noticed something interesting recently. When I first opened my etsy apron shop back in June of 2008, there were over four thousand aprons listed for sale. I thought that amount was astounding and wondered how on earth I'd ever sell anything with so much competition. But, I did. Fast forward to this past October, when I listed a few new aprons and noticed the number had climbed to over eight thousand! Yet, I sold five aprons in October and three in November. How does that happen? What leads a buyer to purchase something of mine when there are thousands of other choices? I can't figure it out. Plus....the way etsy works, when you first list an item, it shows up on the first page of all the listings in that category, where it can be seen by anyone who is searching for that item...in my case, aprons. Back in 2008, a new listing would usually stay on the first page for perhaps three four hours at least. (Once a listing goes off the first page, it's less likely to catch someone's eye. Ultimately, when it gets pushed back to some God forsaken page, it's doubtful that it will be seen at all.) The last time I listed an apron it only stayed on the first page for about forty five minutes, which I assume is attributable to the doubling of the total amount of aprons listed. So how is it that folks still seem to find my aprons and buy them? I mean, I think my aprons are unique and special and well priced. But, if I'm being truthful, there are a lot of other etsy sellers who make gorgeous aprons as well. It's a puzzlement.
~Friends and family know me as someone who can go on and on and on about something. When I was doing exactly that the other day about this subject, a friend who is also an etsy seller made the observation that there must be a huge market for the product if I can sell anything at all while competing with over eight thousand others. I'd call that positive thinking. Come to think of it, she's probably right. There is a vast world full of shoppers out there. Even in a reportedly bad economy, every girl needs a thirty dollar apron, doesn't she?
~Check us out at www.apronsgonewild.etsy.com