Loose ends....

Just one week into my retirement and I'm still tidying up loose ends, the loosest of which has been the website.  My hosting package ends in a few weeks time but with impeccable timing, just one day before I was planning to close the 'store' page last week, they ended support for the website builder program I was using, leaving me high and dry with a working website I couldn't access or modify.

Well I say working.... it wasn't working well.  I knew the store was empty, as everything had been sold, but instead of showing items as out of stock, they were still available to buy.  And some people did.  Which led to some confusion on both their and my parts as I only had an email from PayPal saying I'd received a payment. I had no notification of what they'd ordered, or their contact.

Tech support was lamentable and still being unable to remove the store, the only solution I had was to refund the money paid and offer profuse apologies.  Thankfully everyone understood.

I have been trying for the past week to completely deactivate, or remove the website, to no avail.  It was like a cockroach surviving nuclear armageddon.

Finally, in desperation, I spent many hours yesterday deleting ALL of the back end files, one by one.  Checking back each time to see if the website was still there.  I got to almost the end of several thousand individual files before I got a blank screen.

Hallelujah!

So Tower House Dolls..... FINALLY..... is no more.

With the disappearance of the website, my sandra@towerhousedolls.co.uk address is now no longer working, so if you wish to contact me about anything doll-related, I have a shiny new email address….   sandramorrisdolls@gmail.com

The Tower House Dolls Facebook page has been renamed Sandra Morris Dolls and I will continue to write the occasional post here on my blog, as it contains the repository of my working life over the past 15 years, not to mention the many (mis)adventures of Small Dog, so I simply can’t bear to close it too.

As I prepare to set sail into the sunset of retirement I’m already revising my personal projects notebooks which contains years worth of ideas which I’ve never had the time to make.  I also, inevitably have several projects in progress which have been languishing for years which I’m planning to dust off and revisit.  

I have a small, dwindling cache of tiny undressed dolls to last me for a while, so I will likely have the very occasional special little doll or miniature available for sale, and if so, I will post details on my blog  and FB page, as well as sending out a newsletter.

I am also keeping the FB ‘Mignonette Doll Club’ running for the foreseeable future… as somewhere to share ideas and have a good moan when I mess something up.  It’s a private group so if you would like to join you’ll have to request it.

So, although Tower House Dolls is no more, I’m still going to be around.  There’s a very apposite saying “when your hobby becomes your business, it stops being fun”.   Certainly running a business involves lots of responsibilities, many of which I won’t miss.  Yes... accounts/taxes, I’m looking at you!

However I can truthfully say I’ve enjoyed most of it, even packing for fairs till the early hours and setting off at stupid o’clock to then spend hours setting up my stand.  All the many years I organised and taught classes and workshops for miniatures clubs or at my home(s) were a joy and I got to meet so many lovely ladies, many of whom remain friends to this day.

But now I’m looking forward to beginning a whole new chapter in my miniatures journey.

In the immortal words of somebody whose name I can't remember.... what could possibly go wrong? 

 

Last call....

Just a few boxes left.....

It's been a whirlwind few days since I released my closing sale list but I still have a few boxes left, including one complete Mignonette Toy Doll Box pack, 2 bumper fabric packs, 1 fabrics and trimmings pack, 4 games and paper ephemera packs and just one Yorkshire Terrier Pullalong Toy Kit.

You can view the PDF sale file HERE

I'm aiming to get remaining orders out before the Easter Weekend, so if you want to bag a bargain box please let me know as soon as possible.

A Grave Undertaking....

Back in 2019, I wrote about a little mourning doll I made.  During my recent clearout I came across an associated box of bits, containing a part assembled coffin box, vintage black lace, some jet jewellery etc.

The coffin box was a nightmare to design and make... no right angled corners and a devilishly difficult shape.  I remember taking a solemn oath at the time that I'd never, ever, make another.

But then, this morning, I came across this in a gothic group on Facebook.....

Believe it or not, this macabre stuff of nightmares is a doll.  I've tried and failed to imagine the sort of child who would appreciate it.  Perhaps a young Norman Bates, or a pre-pubescent Hannibal Lecter.  However the craftsmanship is undeniable, assuming it is fabricated and not an actual small skeleton *shudder*.

Anyway, I wasn't so much focussed on the horrific 'dearly departed' as the coffin itself.  It's never occurred to me to attempt a curved coffin shape, which might be more forgiving than the standard multi-angled box.

My own mourning doll was rather sweet and not at all scary

However, I remember that black silk costume was also a nightmare as it showed up every tiny mote of dust and infinitesimal speck of glue.   Nevertheless, I'm minded to revisit the idea and perhaps recreate something similar but slightly different.   

I can feel a spell of 'research' coming on.  By which I mean enlisting the services of Pinterest and Google to go down the rabbit hole of 'mourning dolls'.

The die is cast....

Up at stupid o'clock this morning due to it being a momentous day and having been awake half the night, tossing and turning.

Today is the day I formally submit my business closure notice to HMRC.  I feel there should be some sort of drum roll flourish, *boom tish*

Tomorrow the website formally closes, although it will likely remain as a ghostly presence until its life support is turned off by the hosting company.  So tomorrow I'll be removing the few remaining items from the shop and turning off the lights before I leave.

Next week I'll be closing the business bank accounts and business PayPal account, and preparing the final end of year accounts for submission in early April. 

My business email address will stop functioning as soon as the website disappears, so for all things doll and miniature related I will have a new email address which I'll notify in my final Tower House Dolls newsletter next week. 

The Tower House Dolls Facebook page has been renamed Sandra Morris Dolls and I will definitely maintain this blog, as it contains the repository of my life over the past 17 years, not to mention the many (mis)adventures of Small Dog, so I simply can’t bear to close it too.

As I prepare to set sail into the sunset of retirement I’m already dusting off my personal projects notebooks which contains years worth of ideas which I’ve never had the time to make.  I also, inevitably, have several projects in progress which have been languishing for way too long, which I’m planning to revisit.  

I have a dwindling cache of tiny undressed dolls to last me a year or two, so I will likely have the occasional special little doll or miniature available for sale, and if so, I will post details on my blog  and FB page, as well as sending out a newsletter.

I am also keeping the FB ‘Mignonette Doll Club’ running for the foreseeable future… as somewhere to share ideas and have a good moan when I mess something up.  It’s a private group so if you would like to join you’ll have to request it.

So, although Tower House Dolls is no more, I’m still going to be around.  There’s a very apposite saying “when your hobby becomes your business, it stops being fun”.   Certainly running a business involves lots of responsibilities, many of which I won’t miss.  

Yes... bookkeeping/accounts/tax returns, I’m looking at you!

However I can truthfully say I’ve enjoyed most of it over the past 35 years, even packing for fairs till the early hours and setting off at stupid o’clock to then spend hours setting up.  All the many years I organised and taught classes and workshops for miniatures clubs or at my home were a joy and I got to meet so many lovely ladies, several of whom remain friends to this day.

I’m looking forward to beginning a whole new chapter in my miniatures journey and of freeing my creative urges to see where they take me.  I may even have already ordered a little miniature something to get me in the mood when the dust settles next week. 

 

Clean sweep.....

With my official retirement date just days away (eeeeek!) I'm thinking about what my 'new' life might look like.  For some people, celebrating retirement might mean a round the world cruise, or a luxury hotel holiday.  Or perhaps buying a motorhome and setting off on an extended 'van life' adventure.

Now, I'm not saying I wouldn't mind doing any (or all!) of those things, but I'm going to have to work up to them in increments.  There are some smaller adventures I'm looking forward to undertaking over the coming months with my newly acquired spare time and to that end I have indulged in a very special treat, after which I've been hankering for years. 

We have hired a cleaner.  Just for one hour a week at the moment, so see how it goes, but thus far it's a game changer.

I have to confess, I don't enjoy cleaning.  It's generally a thankless, Sisyphean task which has to be repeated endlessly, day after day, until you die.  Dust accumulates constantly, kitchen worktops stay clear and clean for mere nanoseconds,  crumbs and dirt take up permanent residence in corners, tiles get splashed.... it's all relentlessly relentless.  It doesn't help that I can only clean in short bursts, when my energy levels allow, so sometimes it just doesn't feel worth it as I know I won't be able to do everything that's needed at one time.

Negotiations have been ongoing for some time.  We dipped a toe into the world of 'paying people to do the stuff we hate' last year, when we decided to hire a regular window cleaner. Hitherto, PP had been responsible for cleaning the outside of our 16 windows, and it would take her most of a day with a bucket and extending pole thingy.   However, since her surgery I've banned her from doing it, and I can't do it either, so every eight weeks two chaps come with the requisite equipment to clean all the windows in less than 20 minutes.

Deciding to hire a cleaner though is a whole different level.  They're actually in your home, given unrestricted access to private areas where visitors never go.  They see how you live.  How you REALLY live.  It's all a bit daunting.   With neither of us ever having had a cleaner, we didn't know quite what was reasonable to expect and in what timescale.   We identified the areas of the house we'd like to have cleaned.  Not the whole house as several of the rooms aren't used on a daily basis.  Not the office (which will shortly revert to a study) and not my workroom, (which will shortly be re-designated as a craft/hobby room).  Not the spare bedrooms or the main bathroom.  Not our little granddaughter's bedroom.   Just the high traffic/most used areas which take the longest to clean and get messed up the quickest.

Having identified what we needed, it was time to find our cleaner.  Asking for recommendations on our local neighbourhood network produced a deluge of responses.  Some recommended themselves, others endorsed their own cleaners or those of friends.  After sifting through all the messages, I contacted several who offered more information than simply their hourly rates.  This enabled us to further narrow our search down to two, who we met for a brief chat and so they could see what we wanted doing.  Although both were lovely, we decided to go with the older, more experienced lady.

She's already worked wonders after just one visit.  Our kitchen is gleaming, the floors are sparkling, mirrors are dust and smear free and everywhere smells fresh and clean.  There's a psychological effect too, in that we're highly motivated to keep it that way.  

I don't know why we waited so long to take the plunge.

Spring is sprung.....?

OK.... I do realise that it's still February and spring proper is still a ways off, but I've officially had enough of winter.   

Signs this morning were encouraging... a bright blue, cloudless sky, albeit bone chillingly cold.  However by lunchtime the clouds had gathered and we were treated to an impressive hailstorm.  It's now defaulted to grey and gloomy again, dashing my hopes that winter might possibly be on its way out. 

Daylight savings is still exactly a month away, when the clocks will 'spring' forward one hour and it will be light till almost 7.30pm.  From there it's a mere skip and a jump to warmer days. 

So this afternoon, sitting by a roaring fire while hailstones bounced off the windows, I indulged in a little project planning and listmaking. 

Over the winter months our northeast facing patio never gets direct sun and as a result a film of green algae gradually spreads across the paving stones.   That, allied with dirt deposited by weeks of rain renders the entire space grimy and uninviting.  Currently, all of the patio furniture is swathed in waterproof covers and stored under the gazebo, to keep off the worst of the weather.  The cover of the pergola over the dining table was removed in the autumn and safely stored indoors and the chairs neatly stacked to the side.  The entire area is in hibernation, awaiting a spring awakening. 

By the end of March, I'm cautiously optimistic that I'll be able to make a start on a thorough cleanup, restoring it  to pristine loveliness, in readiness for the forthcoming spring and summer.  

This time last year, as we anxiously awaited a date for PP's surgery, I was planning a major makeover on the seating area so that she would have a comfortable outdoor but undercover, convalescent retreat.  This year I only need to make minor adjustments.  I'm planning to add some waterproof curtains to the sides of the wooden pergola, and some new cosy throws to ward off the chill of summer evenings.  I also want to refresh some of the flower garlands which are looking rather the worse for wear.

I also need some solar lighting to dot around the walls, and a new trompe l'oeil scene for the fence at the side of the seating area... this year I'm going for a Mediterranean theme.   So lots of browsing around Pinterest and garden ideas websites.... the perfect way to spend a chilly winter Sunday afternoon.

40 days and counting.....

There's definitely an element of silent comedy going on in my workroom at the moment.  I'm spending a lot of time picking things up, regarding them for a moment or two, then putting them back down in a different place.  This is repeated ad infinitum until one of two things happens.

1.  I make a decision on what to with said item.

2. I lose the will to live and toss it in the recycling bin.

I reckon I'm 3/4 way sorting through all the assorted 'stuff' and have made good progress in the past two weeks.  Having done all the 'easy' stuff (kits, fabrics, trimmings etc) I'm now on the difficult stuff.... assorted bits and bobs which I've used as kit components, a few spare tools, and general odds and ends.  Do I just bundle them all together as a 'pot luck' box, or try to separate them out?  

I'm making inroads into selling bigger, difficult/expensive to post things on FB marketplace, which is brilliant as lovely people turn up at the door to take them away.

I've packaged up a few sets of boxes with different contents as the thought of selling everything individually was just too draining.  The boxes are PACKED with useful stuff in different themes and I expect them to sell quickly as they'll be absolute bargains.  

However, despite emptying the contents of boxes, shelves and cupboards there still seems to be a lot of extraneous stuff cluttering up the workroom and I'm rapidly running out of the requisite energy and enthusiasm to deal with it.  

Nevertheless.... the end is definitely in sight and I'm now starting to work through all the various bureaucratic hoops involved in closing down a registered business...of which there are many.  Next week I'll be preparing the final year annual accounts and contacting my business accounts banking provider etc in preparation for closing them.  I have to make sure I do everything in the correct order.  

Rather worryingly, HMRC only require 7 days notice of a business closure and won't accept any notification prior to that time.  Previous experience of the speed of responses from them doesn't inspire confidence but there's little I can do but stick to their schedule and hope all goes well.

By comparison, closing the website will be simplicity itself.  When my hosting package expires in early April, it should disappear of its own accord.  When that happens my official business email address will no longer work, so I've set up another for  doll-related contact which will be notified to people on my mailing list when I send out the final sale list. 

So lots of loose ends to tidy up and less than 6 weeks to go.  

No pressure then....