♦♦♦♦ Alberta Street Team CHAT THREAD for October 19 ~ 25, 2015 ♦♦♦♦

[Former_Member]

Hello and welcome to the Alberta Team Chat Thread for October 19 ~ 25, 2015. Posting here counts towards your team participation and is the main place to get up to date on what we are doing as a team!

Post your New Listings in our promo thread:
www.etsy.com/teams/5084/alberta-street-team/discuss/16866629/

Post your Treasuries or social media links here (posting in this thread counts toward your team participation):
www.etsy.com/teams/5084/alberta-street-team/discuss/16866657/

WHERE TO FIND OUR TEAM & PARTICIPATE:
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/AlbertaStreetTeam
TWITTER: twitter.com/etsyalbertateam #EtsyAB
PINTEREST: www.pinterest.com/ABStreetTeam/
INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/etsyalbertateam/ #etsyalbertateam

If you have any questions about the team or how to get more involved please contact Ann, the Team Captain, at www.etsy.com/shop/MagpieQuilts.

Previous thread:
https://www.etsy.com/teams/5084/alberta-street-team/discuss/16914246/

[Former_Member]

PREVIOUSLY POSTED:
Posted at 1:45 pm Oct 18, 2015 EDT by Cindy from cindylouwho2

"Etsy is now filtering searches in the UK & Australia so that searches will see local items first:
www.etsy.com/teams/7716/announcements/discuss/16936546/page/1

They are also testing it for other countries, including Canada. I wrote a summary here:
plus.google.com/+Cindylouwho2/posts/iJfPGCLcMqu

This could obviously have very significant effects on sales, so it is worth watching closely. I will be updating my relevancy tutorial as soon as I get a chance, but I would like to watch this for a few more days at least to try to understand it better."

[Former_Member]

PREVIOUSLY POSTED:
Posted at 3:11 pm Oct 18, 2015 EDT by Ann from MagpieQuilts

"This will make it important that you have filled in your location properly so you show up for local searches. Under "You" select "Account Settings" and then "Public Profile". When entering your location, start typing and choose from the list. If you have just typed in a town/city and not from the drop down, Etsy does not see where you are located. Try a local search for your items, if none show up, then you probably need to reenter your location. (Not sure what you would do if your town doesn't exist.)"

[Former_Member]

PREVIOUSLY POSTED;
Posted at 3:29 pm Oct 18, 2015 EDT by Ann from MagpieQuilts

And a little promotional game if you are interested - the alphabet game www.etsy.com/teams/5084/alberta-street-team/discuss/16946569/

[FlameTouchedGlass]

Good Morning !! I have been away from etsy for a couple weeks and come back and it looks like stuff is brewing lol !! Glad nothing has changed lol !!

and first poster to the new thread !!! WHAT is happening Alberta ?

[Former_Member]

hey it is a new week. happy voting day all.

[lampworkbyjulie]

Hello new week! Sure will be interested to see the election results.

[Former_Member]

Sales are finally picking up this last week in both shops!

I was busy all weekend sewing new aprons, so now just to get my butt in gear and photograph and list them (my least favorite job).

Did anyone go to the Truck holiday market last year in Calgary? Last year was the first year and I did not attend, but I have a friend on the board who is encouraging me to apply this year. Here's the link to the Facebook event:
https://www.facebook.com/events/439538156254391/

[Former_Member]

Happy election day, everyone!

We walked to our voting station this morning, so nice that it was close by our house.

I'm heading to NYC this weekend to celebrate my 30th birthday with some girlfriends, so getting excited and prepping for that.

have a great week, team!

[Former_Member]

Felt good to vote! Loved seeing all the people out. Warmed my heart and made me a little teary.

[Former_Member]

It is such a nice night out, will be a little sad when the cold sets in.
I am procrastinating with my sewing. Got my wisdom teeth out on Friday, and my one side will not stop aching :( That is my excuse for not sewing. lol Lame.... Buttons are picking up, Christmas is nearing. ack!

[PurplePonyArt]

Wooo...I finally hit 100 sales!

[PurplePonyArt · Accepted solution]

Btw, Calgary peeps, this senior's home is having a Christmas sale with free tables.

---------

I am contacting you on behalf of Trinity Lodge. We are a retirement community looking for vendors for our Holiday Market on November 21st from 10:00 – 2:00 p.m. with set up at 9:00 a.m. There is no cost associated with participating in our market, but we do ask for a merchandise gift appropriate to the vendors sales for us to pass along to our residents. Please contact lem.tl@verveseniorliving.com to reserve a spot.

[junquete]

Once again I apologize for not contributing to the treasury blitz. My life has been turned upside down this past week. My husband is in the hospital and has been upgraded from critical to stable last night. He had this episode of extreme shaking head to toes. It's absolutely freaky to see. I raced him up to the hospital and they didn't know what was happening. It slowed down and they sent us home after four hours. But then about noon it happened again and I raced him back up and they took him in right away because some of the staff was there during the first episode. Then four hours later we came home. Had a third one on Friday and went back up. So this time they kept him in over night. I picked him up at 9am and at noon it happened again and my phone rang as I was putting him in the car it was the hospital calling. They got results of cultures taken and it showed infection and bacteria in his blood and the wanted him in right away. No problem because we were on our way. It's about a four minute drive and it was getting insane. I was so freaked out. So I get him there and there is not wheelchair available. I had to go into the emerge to grab one. As I'm running out I'm yelling he's in a full blown episode so they had staff waiting for us. You have never seen six nurses and a doc work so fast! I couldn't believe all the yelling and orders! I was blown away. But this time they knew he had a bacteria in his blood and the level was extreme. SO they start working on him and I just stood there watching. Then as the staff was still working on him the doctor actually came over and put his hand on my shoulder and asked if he could talk to me ! I'm thinking what?? A doctor? Anyhow He told me that he was a very sick man and is going to be in the hospital for quite awhile. SO they did all the tests and xrays again. Then he said we will send him to Calgary. My heart sunk. But as the day went on he was improving. By the time he was moved from emerge to hospital he was improving. By the time I left about two am he was sitting in a chair and talking like crazy. I couldn't believe, So they did not transfer him he's still in Black Diamond. This also kept me home when I had a paid for show at the Wild wild west events. I had so much product ready for this show. It looks like I won't have to scramble to get more for the next show.

Then today I couldn't get up to see him because I had to take my broke back son to see a surgeon. He has a lot of bones in his spine that he got to see. He got to see his ct scans and xrays. It showed the previous broken vertibrae and ribs and the new breaks and compression breaks. He was really amazed to see what was giving him all the pain. He was given a script for pain management. The said we will monitor it for three months. SO right before Christmas he will be told whether or not he needs the spine fused. Then he is told if he needs this it will be an invasive surgery. They go through the chest to fuse the spine. He has upper and lower so it will be doubly invasive. So I'm listening to all this and getting pretty overwhelmed.
But tonight I'm so stinking tired I can't sleep. But I did get to vote though.
I'm am sorry for all this but I just felt I had to get it out.

[Former_Member]

Oh Norma...hugs and prayers for you and your family. Please remember to take care of yourself, too, while you take care of everyone else.

[Former_Member]

I'm sending good thoughts to you and your family Norma - they are all so lucky to have such a wonderful caregiver!

[lampworkbyjulie]

Lordy Norma! I can't imagine! Sending gigantic hugs to you.

I wanted to tweet my 'sections' and cannot find it anywhere! Help please.

[Former_Member]

oh to be off to NYC! have a great time.
take a breath, Norma.

[lampworkbyjulie]

Found it! In fine print. lol Only took a total of 10 minutes!

[MagpieQuilts]

Norma - hugs & prayers!
Christina - congrats on 100! The next 100 will go much quicker!
And New York! Just a bit envious!

[Former_Member]

Christina--congrats on 100!! :-D

Today's email included a post from Etsy about PayPal being included in the new Direct Checkout. It's one of those you're going to get it if you don't specifically say "no" notices. I have until October 27. After that, I can go through a cancel out of it request process until December 31.

Currently I have both Direct Checkout and PayPal as options on my shop. I added Direct Checkout to be able to accept gift cards but since that hasn't happened, I'm thinking I might go back to just PayPal. I was hoping to open a second shop in 2016, but I think I'd better do it sooner vs later; I will go crazy if the shops have different payment options.

[chasingfireceramics]

(hugs) Norma!

I received that email too and I'm trying to figure out the fees difference.

Direct Checkout:
3.5% + $0.30 CAD Etsy Fee
3% + $0.25 CAD Direct Checkout processing fee
Additional 2.5% conversion rate to deposit USD into a Canadian bank account
Total: 9% + $0.55 (plus minimum of $0.20 listing fee)

Paypal:
3.5% + $0.30 CAD Etsy Fee
2.9% + $0.30 CAD Paypal fee for USD/CAD

Total: 6.4% + $0.60 (plus minimum of $0.20 listing fee)

Unless my math is really wrong, Direct Checkout is very expensive (image here with my math: https://flic.kr/p/z6csjw )

[Former_Member]

I got the email too. I decided to keep both active for now and let them know. I simply don't want to change my workflow right now and am happy to opt out for a bit.

I'm happily ensconced at the Banff Springs now until Friday. Combine professional development with mountain therapy and I anticipate this will be a good week. If... work and home don't blow up while I'm gone. Wonder how long I can ignore text from family and emails from work?

[quirefly]

Norma- I am so sorry to hear about your husband, and hope that he recovers quickly. That must have been terrifying for you.
You have my very best hopes and my fingers and toes all double crossed for him.
(((hugs)))

[junquete]

Oh thank you all I just needed to get that out.
But tonight we got word that they suspect he now also has endocarditis.
This was a real surprise to us both! He is going to be sent to Calgary for EKG but they aren't sure when that will be. So it's getting more serious as time goes on.
I'm torn like crazy right now because I am also the taxi for our broke back son who is going through his second broken back in two years. I hate driving to Foothills hospital!! He said the doc showed him the ct scans and xrays. It showed the first breaks and then he saw the second one. He was quite interested. But this doc told him to wear the brace during the day only. Not 24 hours a day like his other doc told him to do. His broken ribs aren't healing well and he thought it was him wearing in while sleeping and it was putting so much pressure on them. So it's been one heck of a week so far and this is only the middle of it.Can't wait for the end of it at this point.