Mountain Girl Silver - Hand-Stamped Customized Silver Jewelry - Portland, Oregon

Ask anyone what it’s like to parent and own a business and be a stay at home mom and run a household and be a soccer coach and all the other things associated with all of it, and they will tell you, as I will tell you that it’s NUTTY!!!  It’s a life, while rewarding and worth it, that is tough and sometimes you wonder when the madness will ever end,,, or at least slow down a little.  Here we are, approaching the holidays, and I have this little angst-y feeling in my guts. Christmas has always been one of my favorite holidays. I love sending out cards, writing the family newsletter, baking, wrapping, decorating, and just getting in the “spirit” in general. But owning and operating a retail business around the holidays is enough to make one go on medication. Point blank.  

My husband, who supports my business and what I do, and picks up the slack in a way that I’ve never seen a man do before, is awesome. My parenting class last night, we discussed how some of our hubbies don’t have the same expectations as we do, being the moms. They don’t come home every night from work with a mental checklist as to what should be done upon their arrival home, or of things that should’ve probably been done by now (while checking the watch); but some of them just take for granted the things that DO get done. Not really thinking about it that much. For instance….   Kids are good, check, house is clean, check, dinner is almost ready, check, phone calls answered, check, emails answered, check, assembly and shipping done, check, dog fed, check, all fish fed, check, etc etc etc..   It just gets done.  However, I really do wish there was a couple of extra hours in the afternoon. The days F L Y by. One minute I look at the clock and it’s 8am and then the next time I look, well, it’s time to put the kids to bed. And the only thing I can hope for, is that everyone goes to bed happy.  Totally getting off track here, I’m such a rambler. And as I sit here and type this, my daughter has the dog locked in the crate and is feeding her goldfish crackers thru the slats and shouting and screaming and my focus is dwindling.  I did get some invoicing done this late morning tho’, so I feel that I’ve at least accomplished a little so far today. But it’s only noonish, and stamping must get done sometime this afternoon, otherwise, tomorrows plate will be enough to make me want to puke. 

That being said, I’ll leave on this thought. If you own a business, and you are a stay at homer like myself, you live where you work and work where you live and work where you sleep and raise your kids where you work… it’s a mad circle. Most people say, “Ohhhhh it must be so nice to be running your business and being able to be at home with your kids”… Ummm  yah,,,  not so much. The only benny is that you can work with no bra on and your ball cap backwards. It would be nice to be able to get up in the morning, get ready (and look somewhat decent, not nightmare Alice) and get in an automobile, drive to a place, work amongst adults and then get to drive home, obviously throwing a lunch hour in there somewhere.  That would be nice. But then, those of you who do get to do that in your life, would probably want to live the stay at home with your kids and work scenario. Grass is always greener right?  I don’t want to sound like I’m not grateful for the fact that I can stay at home with my kids while making money. It’s just that it is tedious and monotonous. And it’s HARD.  In fact, I’ve had to get up 4 times for random requests since sitting down to type this paragraph. But I do want to give a shout out to my hubby (who probably won’t even read this), that w/out him and his ability to recognize when I’m falling apart at the seams, will say to me,, “I understand”… even tho’, I don’t really think he quite does.  I’d like to see him work and run his daily tasks while being yanked in 50 million directions.  Gosh,, I sound so crass today…    ;c)  It must be the weather, or the fact that I’m having vacation let down.  Whatever… I’ll shutup.  Off to the basement to stamp for now. Laters..

Have you ever gone on vacation with hopes of relaxing, then coming home to so much work that it feels like you’ve stepped on a rake?  I shouldn’t be taking time to even write in my blog, as there are so many daunting tasks undone. And I can’t stand the accounting and admin part about owning a business. I never took any business classes for cryin outloud…. I’m just learning as I go.  And I’m learning that with my growing retailer list, I need help keeping up with the books… any takers? Any takers? Any takers?  ha ha ha…

Seriously tho’, it’s so nice to be able to get away from it all. Of course I busted my hiney getting tons of stuff done BEFORE I left (and yes, I forgot to pack my book, among other things), but just rush rush rush to get all this stuff done so that I could relax. At one point, I stopped and just laughed and grabbed my hair at my forehead and took a couple of deep breaths, then just kept on plugging away. Sometimes I feel that if I was actually being watched from the outside of my house, that people would probably think I’d need to be in a mental institution. I even caught myself on vacation talking to myself as I was walking up this sandy hill. And thought,,, gee,,, I’m one of THOSE people,,, who visibly talk to themselves..  WIERDO!!  My point is, my point is, ha ha.. my point is … yah…  my point. Oh, that going on vacation is sometimes so much work, that you wonder if it’s even worth it.

I’ve got a couple of friends (you know who you are) that work sooooooo hard. REFUSE to go on vacation due to lack of communication i.e. internet, phone coverage, etc etc etc… (and NO, vacation is not a coupla days in Vegas I’m afraid)  in fear of getting so far backlogged on work while they are gone, that the thought of a vacation is just to overwhelming. Oh…… you know who you are….   and you better book your trip soon.. you know I’ll watch the cats..  ;c) But it’s so true ya know? Going on vacation, only leads to more work when you get back that I’ve actually had the thought in the last day or so , “Wow…..  that was a great trip, but man, was it really worth it?”..   And this economy….. Geez Manetti!!  Fortunately silver has gone down w/in the last week, but man, people aren’t spending money right now. Maybe when the election is over and done with, people will then know better how to spend their money, and the economy will get back on track again. But for now….. man o’ man. What do we have? Like a week to go?  But don’t get me going on politics, there’s yet ANOTHER daunting topic….. 

Heading to a parenting class tonight, led by my one of my favorite people (and author) Ann Brown. Woman is one of the wisest people I’ve ever had the honor of being around and meeting and soaking up her infinite wisdom. I’m sure my blog tomorrow will have something to do with my class……  as for today’s blog, well, it’s been a far reach of what I really want to complain about. Until next time….  peace out!!

I’ve always loved that song by Jim Croce “Time in a Bottle”…..  Always has been one of my favorites, and takes me back to my childhood. But what is time? And what does it mean to you? 

We rush rush rush rush rush around all the time. Typically from the time we wake up to the time our heads hit the pillow at night. There’s never enough TIME to get what we want to get done. It’s TIME to go pick up the kids, it’s TIME for you to stop whining, it’s TIME for dinner, so go wash your hands, it’s TIME for me to get up off my butt and head down below to work, it’s TIME for us to SLOW THE HECK DOWN is what it’s time for!!!   

I’m headed out of the country on Thursday with hopes of letting time go. I’ve never been one to wear a watch, but always have my skinny little phone in the back-pocket of my 501’s. Which is another thing I’ll be letting go of this next week. My phone. Naturally it will be on and will only be answered if my sweet in-laws, who will be caring for my beautiful kids call, but I’m really going to try and not answer my phone. Besides,, it’s the sure way to get my husband ticked off at me (while on vacation) by answering my phone. 

But back to the time thing…   I think we all need to take a little time…. or perhaps…. a little MORE time for ourselves in life. Don’t let yourself get all wrapped up so tight that you can’t even remember what it is like to take time for yourself.  I saw an ad while I was in NYC last month on the subway. It was (I think) like a Dentyne gum add… and it showed a guy and a girl kissing on the grass in some park. It said something like, “This is what instant messaging should be.”….     And it really hit me, at that moment ya know??  

I’ve always had that ability to pick up when I’m moving too fast and not taking the time to “smell the roses” so-to-speak. And I think everyone has those moments. Some choose to ignore it, some choose to ignore it, only to come back and visit that moment and say “Yah,, I really need to slow down”…   So all I gotta say is, “DO IT”….   take that TIME…  slow down and unplug once and awhile…   it does a soul good.

                                               HIGH HO SILVER

                                                 Daneen Aller 

Imagine going to the store because you are out of eggs. You get to the store, and there are no eggs to be found and the manager tells you, “Sorry, we are having a hard time getting eggs.”  Well you would probably just buy something else rich in protein and just deal with it. Something similar is happening to Mountain Girl Silver. We are having a tough go at getting silver. But we can’t exchange it for something similar. I doubt anyone would cherish Mountain Girl Pewter as much as something as fine and beautiful as precious silver, and there lies the shortage. More silver is consumed by industry than is produced by mining and recycling combined. Some say this deficit reaches back 60 years, and has consumed virtually all the known silver ever mined since the beginning of the world. The annual deficit has recently ranged from 100 million to 200 million ounces per year. Annual supply is about 650 million ounces, and annual demand is about 800 million ounces. The medical field consumes most silver in the world.  People are buying up silver and gold at a fast rate, therefore silver for jewelry is being made into something of a stock market alternative. When the stock market goes down people start buying precious metals. Did you know that Warren Buffet purchased 130 million ounces of silver ten years ago? At that time it equaled 2% of his net worth, and he bought all the law would allow. We have a few calls into him, to maybe sell some of that off. So remember when you wear you Mountain Girl Silver piece, not only are you wearing a one of a kind custom piece; you are wearing one serious hot commodity!  Oh, the phone is ringing…..  it must be Warren……  tootles

The new products launched. Got a few new things on the site now that haven’t been there before. I’ve been meaning to get these things up for some time now, but something always gets in my way. Given the crap economy, it’s allowed me some spare time to get things made, photo’d, sent over to my peeps at Green Tangerine Media, and then allowed them to work their magic.  They are truly the best thing that’s ever happened to MGS besides my talent to stamp. I don’t wanna get all mushy, but seriously, you’ve never worked with such great, down to earth, methodical, funny, more REAL people than my peeps Jen and Richard at GTM.  But,, like I said, not going to get all mushy.

Soooooo  hubby made it ALMOST up to the top of Mt. Thielsen, but had to turn around and head back down the mountain due to the snowfall. They were freezing, the wind was HOWLING and just didn’t make sense to keep on trekking. Picture to the right is of my hubby right around the point where they decided to turn back. He called me from Eugene around 1pm and said that he’d see me at Anders’ soccer game. I knew better than to press him with too many questions, as it was clear he was sorely disappointed. Our friend Chris, well, this was his 2nd attempt to summit, so he was even more disappointed.  It’s all good boys… you’ll get another shot next year!!  Chin up Charlies!!  

The rain is starting to fall outside. Oh joy. A Sunday where we are all stuck inside. Might be a good day to head to Home Delay (Home Depot) and pick out whatever we’re going to do our backsplash in. It’s the one decision that I’m having the hardest time making.  All I know is that stamping got put on the backburner yesterday, and needs to be on the frontburner today. No ifs ands or buts about it.  Got a retailer order the other day for 120 disks that say “I (heart) Cheer 2008″ ….  monotony…  not my forte’ ..

Woke up this morning to the thickest pea soup fog. One child got up, one still in bed. Not certain what exact temperature it is outside this morning, but it’s cold enough that I felt the need to start the inaugural fire in the woodstove. So, naturally, the house stinks from the fine layer of dust and sediment on the surface of the stove, but it’s OH SO TOASTY in here today.

My husband left yesterday with his friend, Chris, and another experienced climber and headed down south to climb Mt. Thielsen in southern Oregon. Just checked the temp at where they camped last night at it’s a whopping 19 degrees.  The man likes to climb mountains. Kind of feel guilty that I’m sitting here in my nice warm office, and he’s down there freezing his arse off. Precious pain for him. He’s such a mountain man. Little disturbing tho’ to know that Mt. Thielsen, statistically, is struck by more lightning than any other peak in all of Oregon. Good thing there aren’t any thunderheads down there today. Gosh!!!  Other child just woke up.  Today is a “stamping” day. Tomorrow will be an “assembly/shipping” day. Also have a soccer game at 3pm at a local park. Hopefully this pea soup will clear up by then, as I’m a WEINIE when it comes to the cold anymore.  Better go check on the fire and get break-y started.  Laters.

Now that I have this nifty little blog, I can better communicate all the little things that float around in my head w/out having to send out a newsletter (even tho’ one will be following here shortly). The biggest recent news for MGS is….  We’re going green. Now, you may say to yourself, “How does a jeweler “go green” “..  Most people don’t know that silversmithing, oxidizing and jewelry making in general is a VERY dirty process. All these steps that are just filthy.  Some of them you can’t really go green with but….

In this country, where we have the freedom of choice, the freedom of religion, freedom freedom freedom, not to mention bipartisanship, and the freedom to vote, I firmly believe that we all share the common goal of sustainability and saving our environment best we can. I’m sure most of you do your part, whether it’s recycling cans, paper goods, plastic, water saving shower heads, re-usable grocery bags (I always forget mine in the car) or the many other things we do to conserve, reduce, and reuse. I’ve always been considered a “tree hugger”, and have always done my part as far as recycling, etc etc… but then I thought to myself ,, “Self,, how can I turn my business into a greener business??”  Going paperless is very hard for me, as I’m a hands on person, and I have to have things right in front of my face to refer to as far as orders are concerned. I toyed with the idea of having a laptop in my workspace to reference orders, but that just wasn’t cuttin it for me. Mistakes were being made, customers upset with incorrect spellings of disks, and I threw my hands in the air. I do however recycle the papers and only buy already recycled reams of computer paper. So then I started searching diligently on the internet for silver that has been refined and not mined. Starting November 1st, 2008 MGS will only be using disks made by Hoover and Strong out of Richmond, VA.  A diamond, metal, findings etc etc etc company that uses refined materials to make their products. Might not mean much to the average jewelry buyer, but in my eyes it’s a HUGE step towards doing what’s best for the business and my conscience. Albeit the disks are a tad more expensive than those that are mined and punched, we find it worth it and worth eating that small profit in order to achieve a greener earth.

Hello everyone….   if you are reading this, then you have found your way to my blog. I have never blogged before, don’t really know the “rules”,, but I suppose I’ll learn as I go. I’m very candid, speak off the cuff, and wear my heart on my sleeve, so I’m sure you’ll find something interesting here from time to time.  I will admit that I’m excited to now have a place to vent, announce, rant, rave, laugh, probably cry, and scream my frustrations as a stay at home mom/business owner here.  For now, this is all I got, as I’m my son’s soccer coach and just got home. Now I have to make dinner, get the kids to bed, then I can focus on work. Until next time…  ;c)     ~Erika