United States in Debt. How Did That Happen?```MysticSilks

I was born right after the Great Depression. My Mother never forgot how it felt to be poor.She knew how to live and feed a family of five on meager food scraps; no such thing as eating out, and we never turned our noses up at left overs. Mom knew how to budget.
I grew up and managed a family of six on a limited income. If we wanted something, we saved for it;we lived on a budget. Why doesn't our government know how to live on a budget? Why is it, that the men and women we elected never take a pay cut, never have a freeze on their salaries? And in fact they continue to vote for increases in their salaries? Why is it that the Senate and Congressional representatives of 'we the people' live high on the hog, and have no idea what it is to live on a budget?
Is it because they have an unlimited income, the tax revenues of the American people?
How is it, that the President freezes Social Security for two years in a row, and he uses Air Force 1 like it was a local taxi service to the tune of a million smackeroos for each trip. His family fly's on vacation at the expense of 'we the people': I can't recall the last time my family had a vacation.
It seems like Washington , D.C. is the land of Oz. Everyone there lives in a world away from 'reality'---and we the people pay for their delusional thinking.
We, the average citizen work our butts off, and struggle from paycheck to paycheck, if we're fortunate enough to have a job. It's not 'our 'mismanagement of money that causes this country to be on the brink of financial default: It is the fault of those we've elected to run this country.

It's time for a new form of government, a real government that is truly 'a government for the people and by the people'.

Thank you for reading.

http://mysticsilks.etsy.com/

Disgruntled On Etsy~~MysticSilks

I was browsing the etsy forums this morning to see if there were any new changes coming up. I posted again to bring the thread alive, about etsy allowing feedback comments for buyers to be resurrected again. It does appear to be a lopsided system, when only the comments left for sellers are able to be viewed, but not comments left for buyers.
I am leaving the boosting up again of the thread regarding a petition for 'fine art' artists.
If you've read my previous blog you'll see what I am writing about.

I ran across another etsy customer, a seller, who is quite disgruntled and she wrote some valid comments in her post: I was impressed, so I requested her permission to copy and paste it here to share.
This is the question she posted:

Etsy admin, what is the seller's status/definition for you?

trinlayk says

Just for clarification:

Are we "customers", "clients", "employees" "assets" or "commodities"?

thank you.

She is asking etsy for an answer.

Etsy does reply:

lisajune says

Highlighted Post
Edited on Jul 24, 2011

We've referred to the people who use Etsy as 'members' for a long time. :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I personally disagreed in this posted thread, that we are not members. Members of anything have a vote, have a say in the policies and procedures of an organization.

This does not take place on etsy . We are customers. We pay a listing fee, then pay a commission to etsy for any sales.

This original poster of this thread posted another comment. Again I was in complete agreement:

trinlayk says Edited on Jul 25, 2011

Yelling, swearing and freaking out...

It's not going to happen, I have no yelling IN me at this point.
I think I've made myself free to speak lately because I JUST don't care if I'm muted or not. Heck, I'm doing better elsewhere, and soon I'll be selling in yet another location. So I don't even care if my shop is brickwalled anymore.

That's a sad thing to say, because I *used* to be ETSY's biggest cheerleader, I accepted that they were new, trying something no one had done before, and doing it better than ebay.... I knew there were flaws.

But recently the flaws and cracks have gotten so big, because there's too much new stuff in too short a time. the OLD problems have never been actually fixed... So the old problems continue to get worse as "new shiny but not really useful" get rolled out.

Old problems continue as the clicks between point A (thumbnail of item) to point B (page for the item) were increased. click on a shops icon and you land on the profile (at least for awhile I haven't kept up with that.) If people are saying: "i'm SHOPPING, I want to see the SHOP first, I'll go to the profile IF I want to..." no one cares.

So when features we desperately need are not working right after 4-5 years of us asking for them to be fixed, and we keep seeing new useless, and buggy features either being buggy or being abused... we're told to shut up.

When the MEDIA got hold of the privacy issue, Etsy's "fix" was to break the feedback system so that it's now easily used as an extortion tool on sellers.
The real privacy problem is STILL there and still not fixed and no one seems to care.
We've begged for a fully functional search since I signed up here 5 years ago, we've been begging for a direct phone number to get customer service we still can't directly, easily call Etsy, a function that SHOULD be in place with any business from the get go. If the business is serving clients globally that businesses needs to be able to be contacted BY PHONE 24/7/363 ... and if the business is global it needs to have that phone line available from the time it opens it's doors. A customer who can't get their log in to work can't contact you via chat.

I think it's way too late for ETSY to fix their spreading reputation as a buggy site with random rule enforcement....

I think it's way to late for ETSY to win back my trust.

When we've said "We need this problem/bug to be fixed" and get a reply that translates to "we'll get around to it eventually"

we feel like we're just employees with a boss that doesn't care, or worse "just the temp" or "just the intern", rather than customers/clients who rely on the services to support our businesses.

Posted at 9:51 am Jul 25, 2011 EDT -

As I stated, this etsy seller makes some great points!

PLease visit http://mysticsilks.etsy.com/

Fine Art on Etsy.com```Mysticsilks

I I started selling on etsy.com in 2007. At that time etsy was sort of new and growing everyday. Etsy admins, those in charge of the online selling site, would listen to their sellers, essentially etsy's customers.
Etsy, seemed to want to build a quality online site, that sold handmade creations like; jewelry, handbags,quilts,fashion items,etc.,.I use the etc., only because to try and name everything that is sold on etsy would take up an unbelievable amount of space in this blog post.
Back in 2007 they(etsy) wanted to know what the sellers wanted and what they thought would help their shops and items gain exposure on etsy. and the vast internet.
I create and sell silk scarves. In addition I also create and sell fine art in the form of silk paintings, acrylic paintings, and an occasional oil painting. or water-color.
I have been actively involved with other etsy fine art artists in encouraging etsy to add a fine art category: So many other online selling sites have a fine art category. It's really not rocket science!

We had been promised back in 2009, that they(etsy) had hired a taxonomist who was going to put together all that was required to add a fine art category, and in fact many of the fine art artists were asked for their input, which was generously given to the taxonomist. We waited, and we waited, and waited some more for a fine art category to be added to etsy's search.

We started a petition : We believe that the artists who took the time to sign our petition would love to see these changes take place.
www.ipetitions.com/petition/artonetsy/index.html

That petition has 872 signatures requesting more exposure for fine art on etsy, such as a fine art category.
In the meanwhile etsy has added more bells , whistles, giddgets, and gadgets, circles, and what-nots, that it makes your head spin! But not a word about adding a fine art category.

There's a new CEO, Chad. We're hoping that maybe Chad enjoys fine art , and will begin the process of adding a fine art category.

It sure would be great!

Please visit http:mysticsilks.etsy.com/

Thank you for reading!

Silk Head Candy(Silk Head Scarves)``Mysticsilks

This is the last four of the ten in my "Silk Head Candy series." I found I am going to have to retake some of the photos before posting on etsy.com.
I noticed while uploading the photos that ll the front views showed the scar in my 'prop girls' head. Not sure how that happened. But she did travel to many art fairs with me sometime ago, and with everything being stored in the van , and the carrying of a display tent, plus chair, paintings, and scarves, it's a wonder my scarves and painting remained whole and untouched.
So, I am thinking that's why 'prop girl' has the scar.
So I am waiting for the house to clear out again, to where I can focus with clarity on taking new photos.

Come see the rest of the beautiful creations in mt etsy shop.
http://mysticsilks.etsy.com


Thank you for reading.

MysticSilks

Silk Head Candy(Silk Head Scarves)``Mysticsilks

I've downloaded three more of the series of ten " Silk Head Candy" silk head scarves.
For those having experienced just one of the side affects of chemotherapy, the loss of one's hair, the desire to feel pretty and feminine is strong! These scarves are mostly for you!

After I washed and rinsed each scarf a dozen or more times to remove excess dye, I ironed them.
And, while I was setting up the ironing board, an inspiration came to me: Put a drop of the 'Holy Water' from the Lourdes , on each scarf before you iron it.
Now, the story behind this 'holy water' is a mystery to me, in that it has lasted for 15 + years Some friends went to France and visited "Lourdes", the place that Mary, the Mother of Jesus visited many years ago. It was told, that she had blessed the water with healing properties.
Well these friends brought back a tiny vile of that water---by all rights the amount that was in that vile should have evaporated. But it hasn't, and so a drop of it went on each scarf.
My hope is that it blesses each person who wears a scarf.

There are four more scarves to post and I hope to do that tomorrow!

Thank you for reading.

Please visit :

http://mysticsilks.etsy.com/

Head Candy(Silk Head Scarves)~ Mysticsilks

Was at my homeopathic doctor's office about a month ago. His " gal Friday" Susan knew that I created silk art, from silk paintings to silk scarves. She asked me if I created silk head scarves for those who are going through chemotherapy. I said, " Susan, you've given me inspiration, I will do just that!"
So I ordered 10 blank silk pieces(22x22inches), plus some more French dyes.
I began the tacking of the blank silks on the wooden frames, then decided which color of dye to use on each silk head scarf.
It took a day to tac up 4 silk scarves,dye them and wait 24 hours before taking them down;I continued this process for 3 days. After all ten scarves were dyed, I had to special cut blank newspaper in which to pack each one, to prevent the dyes from running onto other scarves, then I carefully rolled them on my metal cylinder. And there they sat till after the 4th of July , for a time when the house was quieter:The kiddies had all come home from college, and there was company on the fourth.
On the 5th of July, I was up early , went out to the garage, where I have my steaming apparatus stored. I set up the hot plate,put my four bricks around the base of the plate to stabilize the pot when it started bubbling.
This time I added hot tap water to the pot, and I cut down on the waiting time for the water to get hot enough to begin steaming. I set the cylinder on top of the metal insert that keeps the cylinder of scarves out of the water: God forbid that water should touch the scarves till after they steam!!
After the cylinder was placed, I covered the top with heavy cotton sheets and towels to hold the steam in the pot: This is a three hour procedure from the time the water begins to simmer, and the two and a half hours for the steaming process.
Three hours later I pull the steaming cylinder of silk scarves from the pot, took them into the house and began to unfold the packet and pull each scarf from their paper cocoons.
There's a 24 hour wait before the silk scarves can be washed and rinsed to rid them of excess dyes.

Above you'll see the results of three of the ten silk head scarves.

To view more silk scarves , please visit
http://mysticsilks.etsy.com/

Thank you for reading.