If I Had a Husband

A cat in the garden is a good thing.

I've been busy lately! Summer weather has been with us - warm days with sunshine and a few afternoon storms - so I've been working in my garden for several hours each morning. I get out there early and work until it starts getting too hot. I've been doing lots of digging and transplanting, dead-heading and weeding. Today is what we'd call air-ish, though. Breezy, cool, not a cloud in the sky. But, this brings me to the subject of people who don't do what they say they're going to do.

As a single woman, it's hard enough to find someone when you need yard work or home repairs to even come give an estimate, especially if it's a small job. I once was told that you don't want to hire someone that advertises in the paper because why would anyone who's worthy have to place an ad to get work? So, just how do you find someone who's capable and fair? Then if you do end up hiring out the work they either don't show up at all, or, if they do show up, there's some sort of rip-off. They'll charge way too much money, or they don't do the job right. In one situation I had both - the guy did several chores and screwed most of them up, charged me an exhorbitant price and wouldn't come back to fix his mistakes. (For example: doesn't it make sense to you that, when installing a gutter, the upper portion of the downspout should be put on the inside of the lower portion so the water doesn't just cascade out? I didn't discover that mistake until the next time it rained.) I had to hire someone ELSE to make things right. I know of another woman who had several trees cut down on her property. The workers were supposed to cut up all the wood and remove it, but just disappeared... with HER tools, and her money. In that situation the Sheriff wasn't even any help. My Dad said to me recently "It's too bad you have to pay for a husband." Meaning, that if I had a husband I wouldn't have to pay to get these kinds of things done. I replied "Daddy, if I had a husband I'd pay one way or another..."

Now each time I have to jump on the shovel to get it into the hard ground I think about how much faster and easier it would be if I could hire someone to do this job. Then, I think about how much money I'm saving! Especially since the salt on the roads last winter destroyed the brakes on my car, which cost me an arm and a leg to fix. And the gas company filled up my LP tank and took more body parts. Why did they do that this time of year? So I'm in the financial hole again and hoping that summer sales are better this year. I'm ready to have some money to do something FUN!

It's been too pretty to be in the studio, but I'll get back to it soon. I've done a couple custom orders and a few pair of earrings, but nothing much to speak of. I'm still trying to sell some of my older inventory so I have incentive to make new things. I always seem to work harder when inventory is low and, since I have lots of pieces made, I've been a slacker. I've put several things in my Etsy Store that haven't been there before, and there are still several bargains to be had in the "Sale Items" secion. Check it out! Help me pay for these unexpected expenses! Thank you for your support.