Going With the Flow

Most days, I'm a planner. I have my day planned out the minute I wake up and my to do list ready to be tackled. I like order and routine. But the last couple weeks have challenged my daily routines and I've had to learn to go with the flow a little more. With Jesse being off work (for 4-6 weeks!), my life has changed drastically from when he was working. It's really great having him home more, so I'm making some changes in other areas to make sure I still get everything done that needs done.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/119253665/quote-print-landscape-photography-go

As I'm sure you've noticed, my poor blog has been a little neglected the last couple weeks. I used to write my posts the night before and schedule them for the morning. Now that time is being spent cooking supper and watching movies with Jesse. Sometimes there just isn't time to get everything done! And I know Jesse will be back to work soon and I'll have my routine back. So for now, I'm enjoying the extra time together and letting a few things slide.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/105033198/family-routine-childrens-wall-art

Now that Jesse is finally feeling a little better (but still can't lift anything), we've been taking a few road trips and spending more time with family. Usually Jesse is sleeping when everyone else is out and about. So we've been taking advantage of this time and seeing our family during the week when we normally wouldn't.

I still plan to try to blog 3-4 times per week. But I wanted to give my awesome readers a heads up as to why my posts are a little more scattered than they normally would be. I should be back to a normal blogging schedule in the next few weeks. Just in time for the fall rush :)

Organizing Local Orders

One thing I love about Etsy is how easy it is to manage open orders. I can scroll through all the open orders and see what still needs done. I can add private notes to orders to remind me of deadlines or special requests. And once they're shipped, they're moved to the closed orders page keeping my open orders up-to-date and organized.

So nice and clean...not for long!

Local orders are a whole other story for me! I'm terrible at keeping them organized! If they're not in my open orders que, I tend forget about them! Not Good!!! I've tried a few different methods, but nothing has worked real well so far. Last fall I tried keeping all local orders in a large zip lock baggie (which is how I organize a lot of my things LOL!) This definitely wasn't ideal.

Yup, that's an envelope...I write on whatever is closest when I answer the phone :)

Over the weekend I finally put to use a cork board I bought a few months ago. I knew I wanted to engrave on it and planned on adding a pretty design, but in the end I went with the straight-forward approach. I engraved "Orders" on it :)

Please excuse my MESSY desk!

So far this is working out well and I have it in a place where I can see it while I sit at my computer. That way I'm always reminded of what's still on the To-Do list! I can hang orders so the closest deadline is on top. And once they are completed, then they can be transferred to my file cabinet so I still have all my contact info and order info.

Maybe I'll have to make some pretty tacks to dress it up a bit. But for now, it's doing it's job...and that's more important than being pretty :)