Frustrations…

Life is full of frustrations. We all experience that. I am thankful that most of mine are currently small potatoes. In so many ways my life is blessed and I am grateful. Still…

Executor Woes

I’ve been a smidge stressed and frustrated dealing with my late brother’s estate. (I was assigned as his personal representative just a few weeks ago.) Every little task seems to take a lot more time than I imagined–from opening an estate checking account to dealing with trying to get his money to that account to calling companies he owed money, etc.

And then I got an enigmatic letter on March 28th from the South Carolina probate court with just one line of instruction.

What the $#%@! does “Proof of Delivery/Info to Heirs” mean? What do I need to file by April 2nd?

Well, I googled it and found an “Info to Heirs” form. Okay, that could be it but I knew I needed to call the court the next day to make sure this was the right form and to get more instruction. The probate clerk I spoke with, while not being rude, was distinctly frosty. And yes, she confirmed I had the right form, but also needed form 120PC to prove that I had indeed notified the heirs of his estate.

Fine. But why couldn’t they have put the form numbers in the letter with links how to get to them or better yet include copies of the forms? Why be so vague? And as it turns out the Proof of Delivery form had to be notarized. Oh jeez.

So I spent part of that morning filling in the two forms, popping over to my local notary and then heading to the post office to send the documents priority mail so they would arrive to the SC probate court by April 2nd. All this to prove to the court that I had told my dad (my brother’s only heir) that I was now the personal representative for Dave’s estate…which of course he already knew.

Perhaps the one positive of this is that I found a different SC probate court’s web page that lists all the forms I will eventually need to fill out. I’ve printed them out so I can at least see what’s coming up. So much more helpful.

Customer Ratings–Sigh!

Last summer Etsy started a program where you have to meet certain metrics (on-time shipping, quick response to messages and feedback ratings) each with scores of 95% and higher to receive a Star-Seller badge. Now two of the three metrics are within my control. One is not. Still for the last four or five months I’ve had Star Seller status not that it’s made a jot of difference in my sales!

Well this week I got two four-star reviews, which likely will be enough to drop me out of Star-Seller status next month. The review below had me shaking my head as I had listed all the dimensions of this pot in the description and included the height in the title.

For some items I include props, a photo of it next to a ruler or a pic of the item in my hand so folks have a visual on the size. I didn’t for this and I wish I had! Well, at least she still likes it.

And this pill box, the buyer loves it, but still just 4-stars.

The truth is sellers have no control over a buyer’s review. We can do everything right from accurately describing an item, photographing every side, allowing returns, answering questions, shipping carefully and quickly and still it may not be enough to rate a five-star review.

Bye, bye Star-Seller badge!

Abandoned Carts–Argh!

It’s fairly common on Etsy for potential buyers to add an item to their online cart and never follow through and buy it. (We’ve all probably done that on one site or another.) But just on this one store “page” alone I have eight items in carts.

At any given time I have 40-50 items in carts. Now there is an Etsy feature that allows you to send a discount to all the folks who have items in these “abandoned carts,” but you can’t choose specific items, which is problematic. For example a couple of items in carts are already on sale. Adding a further discount on top of that would leave me with very little profit.

Normally I don’t pay much mind to what’s in carts, but because revenue took a nose dive this month I found myself muttering more than once “Just buy it already!” Which is NOT a good attitude.

This Old Body…

With my birthday looming marking the passage of another year, I find I am frustrated with my increasing physical problems and limitations. (Lamenting really.) They are a mix of aging, genetics and some bad choices. I am trying to change a few things. Two weeks ago I started intermittent fasting on the 16/8 cycle which means I only eat in an eight-hour window. I do feel better not grazing all day, but I don’t think I’ve lost any weight yet which I need to. But I also haven’t made the dietary changes I should. While I rarely eat sweets or snack foods, I adore bread, pasta, processed meats and wine. All the things fasting gurus say to eliminate from your diet. Drat!!!

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference.

Serenity Prayer

A Time for Rejuvenation

So when all these little frustrations build up, I know I need to have a day where I do something different. Something mood lifting and rejuvenating. Thankfully I had a lunch date already planned with a dear friend and there is nothing like spending an hour or so talking with someone who’s known you for 30 years.

Afterwards I planted my basil in a pretty (but crazed) dish and enjoyed the lovely scent of our climbing jasmine that grows 10 feet from our stoop.

Being outside and poking around in my garden is certainly one of my happy places and I always feel a bit closer to God here.

And then my sweet neighbor Annie came over with a bag of lemons and oranges from their trees…just because.

So I am already starting to feel the frustration of the last few days melt away.

Would love to hear how you deal with frustration!

All the best,

Karen