ranting time.

do you ever feel like the odds are stacked against you? that no matter how hard you try, all the effort in the world is still going to leave you short?

that's a bit how i have been feeling that past few weeks. some days it is worse than others, but it is there nonetheless.

things are getting back on track, but as i have learned in my 4.5 years at this small business rodeo, nothing goes accordingly to plan. you cannot trust anyone but yourself, and sometimes that is tricky.

since darwin passed the baton on to me, there have been some fiery hoops to jump through. i may have gotten myself into those predicaments, and most i have managed to get myself out of, but i am becoming more and more of the fuck it mind frame.

if you don't like something, your problem. if you don't want to pay that price, find it elsewhere. if you want to sit and bitch and moan about how terrible the business is, go for it, but i am not sticking around to hear it. you under ordered and now you want me to fix it in a hurry, well tough cookies. you need your order yesterday, but want to pay for it today, then you are going to have to wait.

i am learning that when you have no monetary obligation to get something done, then it really becomes small peanuts. people will wait and the world won't actually end. in the moment it is hard for me to see things like that. i get bogged down in trying to make everyone happy, and you know who that leaves unhappy? <--this kid-->

you know what? i am not going to do it anymore. i am not a particularly mean person, actually i am not a mean spirited person at all. i have feelings and i would like to continue to have feelings. sometimes feelings aren't going to help you out.

i am having a tough time trying to balance being a girl and having actual feelings and being tough. i am no delicate flower, i have a mouth that could put some sailors to shame, and i can hold my own, but i do crack. i don't want to have no feelings and be all the fuck the world, it's my way or the highway. there has to be compromise, but when you are in a small business, people always want you to compromise.

well guess what, i don't want to. i don't want to compromise anymore. i want things to go smoothly, or as smoothly as they can when one person is running a company. i just want ONE project to go according to plan. JUST ONE.

i by no means want to bat a thousand, because that is more pressure than it is worth, but i would like for the majority of the headaches associated with jobs to not make me want to pull my hair out while throwing up.

is that so much to ask?

week update.

getting back in the groove.

rougher than you would think. well i guess not really rougher, but certainly sleepier.

it's MLK day and since the bank is closed, i took it upon myself and my civil liberties to not leave my pajamas or my house. i did get some work done (not any wood stuff however) but all while in the comfort of my own home.

i decided to make today an all over rest day. it's supposed to be a running rest day, but i may actually make that one happen (also a different story on a different blog) and after working all week and weekend, i decided it needed to be a mental health day.

side note: since it rained all of last week everything got pushed back and i was a crabby mess. i wrote a post that i never published. it's better that way. i just sounded like a whiny two year old. not attractive.

on this rest day i will offer you a recap of last week.

monday:

morning meeting in the rain. darwin @ hgtv
afternoon pow-wow since darwin's schedule got change because of, you guessed it, rain

tuesday:

raining
darwin @ hgtv
i was out at the mechanic shop all day helping do quickbooks
i also was fielding phone calls and making ones.
basic multi-tasking per usual

wednesday:

RAINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNING
picked up some scrap metal and some non scrap metal. 

thursday:

raining.
darwin @ hgtv
driving the truck around (how do businesses stay open when they don't open until 10? and not businesses of the retail persuasion)
fielding phone calls, writing emails....

friday:

there may be sun, but the truck takes forever to warm up...

hallelujah there is sunshine!!!!
darwin @ hgtv
delivery of some heavy ass oak
drive up to new shop
praia locks me out....tomorrow you can have that post

saturday:

so.much.sanding.

sunday:

so.much.more.sanding.

 thus incurring the rest day where i don't have sawdust up my nose, in my ears or mouth.

ciao. 

new year. big changes.

it's been a minute, but we at mississippi wood trader have met some big changes.

darwin has been asked to co-host a tv show for HGTV. i am super proud of him and super excited for him to have this unbelievable opportunity. he is going to knock it out of the park, i just know it.

so what does one do when their boss is drafted to be on tv and there is still a company that needs to be run, books to be balanced, dog to be tended too, trucks to be maintained, etc. etc?

in my case you cue meltdown. no, i'm just kidding.

there was a momentary what the fuck moment with a side feeling of abandonment, but those passed quickly once i realized that a. the world hadn't ended (silly mayans and their calendar of doom) b. yes it was a change, but it's not the worst change we've endured c. darwin isn't going anywhere d. i get the dog. just kidding. or am i?

praia apparently is worse at change than i am. i dropped darwin off this morning and she sat in the backseat looking out the window gazing longingly for her owner.

 
then she realized i would feed her and let her poop in a real backyard and she was happy. then again, this is how the princess is sitting with me today.

just a little personal space sharing to get your day started.

for 2013 i promised myself to embrace change, dream big, and to not be afraid. this whole hgtv curveball, i suppose is the universe's way of saying now or never. it's going to be a hustle and a challenge and i am sure a few sailor's words will exit my mouth, but i am determined to have some fun with it.

ciao.

four.whole.years.

today is 4 years.

FOUR.YEARS.

that's the longest relationship i have ever had. (aside from friendships).

i have learned a lot. things that i am eternally grateful for.

things that you can't learn unless you are thrown into the small business world and are holding on with white knuckles hoping to come out alive.

i've come out alive and i am stronger than when i started. both mentally and physically.

it has been a trying 4 years, but i wouldn't change any of it.

those 4 years have put me where i am today and that is something i can not thank darwin for enough.

HAPPY FOUR YEARS!

threads.

when you work for a small business in the small business world, you have to be able to roll with the punches.

the punches sometimes just keep coming. you tuck, you bob, you weave, but you can still get pummeled.

survival is key. it's the hardest and most evasive part. if you can figure out how to take the punches, while getting in a few you can guarantee yourself survival.

the biggest problem with survival, is that sometimes, just because you've survived doesn't mean you've made any great leaps or bounds in terms of headway. you may still just be hanging on by the shred of a thread.

threads are tricky. how long do that last before they snap. how do you you rebuild?

that's where we are now.

rebuilding.

we've taken steps back to start over. this time we are doing it for us.

the company is no longer running us. we are running it.

things are much less stressful that way.

for now that's where we are and that's where we will stay.

i promise more funny stories soon. i needed a break. and for that i apologize.

brainstorming.

summer is here.

which means things are slowing down.

now it's onto figuring out just what we are supposed to do.

we've got some money saved (you're welcome darwin), but we would prefer not to bleed ourselves dry.

coming up with meaningful tasks each day is growing more difficult with each passing day.

yesterday i successfully organized the storage space. i fought with ikea shelving for a good two hours. but i got to use powertools. and i am little kid excited that you can now see the floor and everything has a home. mmm organization.

today i drove to the kiln. and then put the seat covers on keisha as best that i could. oh and keisha got a face lift. she got a new bumper. and by bumper i mean menacing grill. it's pretty awesome. i feel like it should be in dawn of the dead.

that said bumper was quite the headache though. the body shop accepted the bumper without inspecting it and it was damaged. darwin called me and told me to to diplomatically handle it because he was going to start yelling if he called. suicide mission began.....needless to say, darwin went to the body shop the next day and told them just exactly what he thought of them and got everyone's ducks in a row....wooohoooo new bumper

must go back to brainstorming...any ideas shoot them my way.

latest update...

many apologies. without further ado...

With the Georgia heat descending upon us with a quickness, Darwin and I opted to take a rainy Monday and get together an actual list of all of our inventory. It took the greater part of a day to chalk, number and picture all of it, but it was well worth it. There were a lot of pieces that Darwin and I had forgotten about and even more pieces that we knew about but didn't realize quite how many or how stunning they actually were.

I've finally managed to get all the pictures up. Both on our photobucket page - here - and our Facebook page - here. If you haven't had a chance to see the pictures, I highly recommend taking a peak. Not only are the pictures of our inventory, but they are also of our finished furniture projects.

The National Ornamental Metal Museum in Memphis, TN contacted us about doing a dining room table top for them. Darwin and I jumped at the opportunity to work with them. They have made some amazing pieces and we knew the base they were building wouldn't disappoint. We went back and forth on which slabs would be the best, and we finally settled on the last of the Sinker Cypress slabs we had. The first one turned out beautifully and we knew this one would hold it's own against whatever base the metal museum created. The slab finished out beautifully and Darwin and I are anxiously awaiting pictures of the completed product.

Speaking of furniture, we've got some new pieces in the works over at Urban Reclaimed. Now that we've got an inventory list, the ideas are blossoming quite rapidly. Two pieces we have recently finished are the Vintage Surfboard Coffee Table as well as a pair of Foldover Side Tables. The website has recently been revamped and the blog is getting an update with the stories behind some of our more unique slabs.

Moving away from inventory and furniture, we fall into Darwin's territory. Milling. Emory University has kindly sent us some more trees from their campus to get milled into lumber. The tree Darwin milled out of one of their trees that fell in front of one of, or the oldest, dorm on campus, has come to the final stages of drying and will soon be on it's way to be made into an amazing conference table to be placed in the dormitory for the students to use. The kiosks we made for them have been assembled on campus and are a big hit.

As always let us know if we can help with anything. Please check out both of our Facebook pages - Mississippi Wood Trader and Urban Reclaimed. If you tweet follow Urban Reclaimed. And look for our updates on the blogs. Yes, this means the rambling has ended...

Until next time,

Dot and Darwin