The Legs Fall Off If You Move It

Walking a fine line here between friends/family v. the whole wide world coming across this stuff.  And, not everybody knows what some of you know, so anyway, here’s some more words to push that post on down a notch.  Two posts in one day, you lucky readers!

Here’s something I didn’t expect — multiple possible markets for the same item. You know about my never ending quest for sheet music, right? We’ll I’m thinking that’s because people will want to make something like this or this, or use it as a background in some other project or highlighting certain words.  Or WHATEVAH.

But, check this out. When I was going through all that I now have (page by page, sheet by sheet, step by step — because that’s how I roll), I wasn’t expecting that there would be all this cool sort of deco-style art that probably has appeal to other customers on its own. So, cool, eh? I need to do a better job of seeing the parts instead of the whole as I’m assessing stuff going forward.

I really like the last one with the morning glories.  And the lady with that cool hat and dress.  And that first one.  And … all of them.   And, if you care, you can click on them if you want to see more detail.  Again, how I roll.

In business plan and financing news, argh.  Planning to call Dude #1 tomorrow and make an appointment, then go ahead and make contact with several of the other places I’ve found.  So, you can plan on the business plan and presentation being finally done at about Appointment Time minus One Hour.  That would look like this for you math geeks:

Time Business Plan is Complete = Time of First Appointment to Show It – One Hour

Go ahead and post that on wikipedia if you think it would be of use to anyone else.

In inventory news,  received about 40 old pressure gauges, a bunch of beads, some cute Kelly dolls and clothes (including a pink bunny costume and many pairs of shoes).  For pickup this week — a bunch of Fisher Price little people, six or eight animal-shaped planters, lots of porcelain doll parts and some butcher paper, acrylic paint and rubber stamps.  Cool, down to the very last baby arm.

And, to end on a downer, after being an avowed fan for many years, I’m getting ready to de-recommend Lenovo laptops.  This one, since it had the 2 year old hard drive changed out a month or so ago, has started getting blisteringly hot, whether running on battery (and I tried all three batteries that I have, thinking maybe one of them was the problem) or when plugged in.  I’m keeping everything backed up, and expect the apocalypse one day very soon.

A special post for my brother in law, Alex.   The rest of you should busy yourselves elsewhere, and watch over your shoulder for a mushroom cloud to pop up over Missouri any minute now.

Found in a pile of sheet music from the 20′s-40′s 

They sure look like they're having fun, dancing there on the plantation. And the audience there on the right (complete with rocking chair) is also loving it.

In the same pile, there was this copy of another piece.  This one included words, written in a charming dialect, which the “Allegro” at the top indicates were to be sung “Lightly”. 

c 1934, Tuskeegee Institute, Alabama

In case you can’t read it; here’s what it says: 

“Soon ah will be don’ a-wid de troubles ob de worl’, 

Troubles ob de worl’, de troubles ob de worl’. 

Soon ah will be don’ a-wid de troubles ob de worl’, 

Goin’ home t’ live wid God. 

I wan’ t’ meet my mother, 

I wan’ t’ meet my mother, 

I wan’ t’ meet my mother, 

I’m goin’ t’ live wid God.” 

Yeah, so, not so much of last week’s list got done as I might have hoped. Dennis was gone for several days, and I expected to put the hammer down and get so! much! done! without him here to inquire ever so gently about dinner, or whether I’m ever going to the grocery store again, or going to do laundry again, or any of those things I’m getting sort of sporadic about, and to which he has become accustomed over the past six months.  Nope.  Can’t blame him.  It’s all my own fault.  I have 1,000 things started (like cleaning out the last closet that didn’t get done back in the summer — the one that has the overflow holiday ornaments and piles of stuff that I need to donate to the cause), but little at all finished.  What is my problem?

So, let’s recap our “success”, shall we?  The plan for last week was to:

1.  Get the final business plan out — Errm, no.  Decided to include some additional financial detail and comparisons to other small, crafty business financials, and that has stopped me dead in my tracks, trying to figure out why some things are unexpectedly different.  Some of it I expected, but other parts — still have some ciphering to do.

2.  File for sales tax and use permit.  — Done, except had to mail it in.  The form is online, and you can type on it online, but you have to print it and mail it in.  There’s no way to submit online.  Hate.

3.  Finish the business plan for the Center for Recycled Art (where finish = start). — I crack me up.

4.  Incorporate the nonprofit and file for nonprofit status with the State of Texas. — See #3.

5.  Finish (where finish = start = reading 300+ pages) the 501c3 filing for the IRS, which lets the Center for Recycled Art be officially recognized as a nonprofit, lets the public make tax deductible donations, and also lets us share resources with other nonprofits — I am about 100 pages into this.  Doesn’t seem like a biggie, really.  Maybe I”m not up to the hard part yet.

6.  Start reaching out to businesses in earnest, and start a wider marketing campaign that will help to start the business donations rolling in.  — See #3.  I feel like an idiot doing much of this one until I have a commitment on $$.  Know what I mean?

So, what did I do instead?  I worked on the marketing calendar — realized I left out Mardi Gras and Cinco de Mayo.  Mind reeling from all the wildly colored, alcohol-themed possibilities.  I made some stuff for in-store samples — a crocheted purse (finished), some paper beads (made from a seed catalog, and oh-so-cool, yet blinding and hand-cramping at the same time as it involves rolling and rolling and rolling these long, skinny triangles of paper), and started making a giant rag ball out of old sheets, feeling for all the world like some kind of Civil War volunteer rolling bandages.  What’s the sheety rag ball for, you ask?  I’m going to knit a rug with it.   Still to make — a purse, a clock and a box out of old law books, more paper beads, and some giant pom poms out of old pattern paper. 

Again, cart > horse, right?  Don’t need store samples if’n there ain’t no store, eh? 

You know what my problem is?  If yes, please let me know.  If no, stay tuned, and I’ll let you know what I find out.

In inventory news, I missed out on the pencils and ton of glass, but I did get a million baby socks (for finger puppets, or adorning other things, or stuffing with catnip and making kitty toys), about a dozen ladies’ hats, about a hundred handkerchiefs, some ladies gloves, an old globe, a bunch of really old Valentines, a couple dozen porcelain doll heads (some with hollow eye sockets), many little porcelain arms and legs, and a small army of Fisher Price little people. 

And, finally, a quorum photo from a recent board meeting –

Well, it has been a while hasn’t it?  You may wonder why I’m updating now, after not having done so for many days.  Obviously, because I am supposed to be working on the final revisions to the business plan.  So, you know.  First things first… I have the comment copies back and have a good number of changes to make – mostly additional information about things that didn’t translate well to paper.  So, I hope to have that done today, along with the presentation, and get to some lenders asap-est. 

Interest in the website continues to be higher than expected at this point, and lots of people have emailed asking to be put on the mailing list.  So, cool, and glad to comply

Since last we spoke (…  or last I typed and you read … or whatever – don’t quibble with me, Internet), I have sorted through all of the future inventory I have here, and I must say, it’s a lot.  And, it includes things like boxes (that’s plural) of artificial cabbages.  And costume jewelry that can best be quantified in pounds (like when Richie Rich went to buy produce).   So, we probably don’t need any more jewelry for a while.   Or any more cabbages, or ribbon roses or cabbage patch doll heads for that matter.  Welcome to our new, cabbage-themed blog.  Anyway, I wasn’t exaggerating when I estimated it was going to take 80 hours.  It took every bit of that, and maybe more, and it now has me worried about how best to display all of the wares to their best advantage. 

Let’s see.  What else has happened?  I was scared out of my skull during the sort mentioned above when I discovered a nest of dwarf albino scorpions in the bottom of a box that had spent a long time in someone’s garage.   Said scared-out-of-skullness included much jumping around and hand flapping and repeated peerings into the box to see if they were marshalling their forces to invade the world outside the box or were square dancing in the bits left in the bottom of the box or were just waiting to jump on my face at the next peering.  They finally revealed themselves to be merely silverfish, and were squashed without further incident.  Thank heavens.  And whew.   But I would caution against letting your guard down when the possibility of dwarf albino scorpions exists. 

And, under the heading of You Need to Get Out More,  I have spent more than a few minutes on more than a few days engaged in the following with the chattiest of the kittens:

Me:  “Keyser Soze.”

Kitten < in mock alarm>:  “Meow!”

Me:  “Keyser Soze!”

Kitten < a little louder>:  “Meow!!”

Me:  “Keyser! Soze!”

Kitten <faking a limp on the left side>:  “Meow!!!”

So, this cracks me up.  And it goes on and on for as long as the kitten will allow, because I clearly don’t have the self control to stop it on my own.

On this week’s agenda:

1.  Get the final business plan out to people with money.

2.  File for sales tax and use permit.  I think I can do this online, which is great.  I hate having to mail stuff.

3.  Finish the business plan for the Center for Recycled Art (where finish = start).  I am hoping this will be less arduous than the for-profit plan has proved to be.

4.  Incorporate the nonprofit and file for nonprofit status with the State of Texas.

5.  Finish (where finish = start = reading 300+ pages) the 501c3 filing for the IRS, which lets the Center for Recycled Art be officially recognized as a nonprofit, lets the public make tax deductible donations, and also let us share resources with other nonprofits

6.  Start reaching out to businesses in earnest, and start a wider marketing campaign that will help to start the business donations rolling in.

 And, some time this week, if all goes well, I will be picking up:

                One box of unmatched baby socks

                Several hundred pounds of mis-engraved glass trophies and awards

                30 empty Xmas ornament boxes

                A load of used pencils

And, for later this month — Although we need No. More. Lace,  we could still use some more miscellaneous trims, so the trip to San Antonio to see the man with the bus is on the horizon.