She will always be my little girl.

At what point do you have to admit that your little girl is all grown up? Is it when they start to drive and begin to be so independent, or when they have their first broken heart? Is it when they pack up and go away to college for the first time? Or maybe it’s when they win a part, or maybe 2, in their university’s production of The Vagina Monologues.

Oh my.

Yes, on February 14^th I will be watching my daughter and several other young women talking about vaginas. Okay, I know there is a lot more to it than that but just today Dani was in the student union selling chocolate vagina pops to passersby. All kinds of chocolate too, from milk to dark to some kind of raspberry mousse. I think that’s what she said. Which of course prompted my son to call out in his best imitation of a newsboy - “come try my vagina, get your vaginas here…”

Oh my.

Wikipedia says “The Vagina Monologues are the cornerstone of the V-Day movement, whose participants stage benefit performances of the show worldwide each year between February 1st and March 8th (International Women's Day. The first V-Day benefit took place on Valentine's Day 1998 and many of the local benefits are held on Valentine's Day. The "V" in V-Day stands for Valentine, Vagina, and Victory, linking love and respect for women to ending violence against women and girls. The proceeds from these performances go to programs that work to end violence against women and girls, including crisis centers and women's shelters.

So that’s good.

It’s all so in your face, and it’s meant to be. I understand that. Still, I don’t know how I will feel sitting in the audience accompanied by my son listening to vagina this, vagina that, vagina everything. And while it sounds funny it’s actually not. It’s about violence and brutality against women, as well as how powerful women are and how it is all tied into her sexuality.

So while I know it is serious and thought provoking and socially relevant, there’s still that part of me that’s a little bit squeamish about having all those references to vaginas and everything you could possibly associate with them flying around an auditorium. There’s still a little bit of the urge to say to my daughter, “sh-h-h, it’s not nice to talk like that Honey, keep your voice down!”

But maybe that’s the point.

Ver-r-r-y-y-y Interesti-i-i-n-g!

Yesterday and today were very interesting to me. In my quest for Etsy knowledge I went into several forum threads, read, posted some, hate to be only a "lurker". I have a lot to learn - I think it's a good idea to just kind of keep my mouth shut about some things - I am forever conscious of being a seller. I know I can be turned off very easily by small things sometimes, and not want to buy from someone. Having been a long time buyer on ebay - I am very familiar with the way different people handle themselves as sellers, and what I respond to as a buyer. The difference is - on ebay I never went into any forums to see what the sellers were talking about behind the scenes.

A couple of weeks ago there were technical difficulties on Etsy that kept the site down for over 24 hours. The forums were down but the blog was up and people were using it like a forum. There were people who were whining and complaining and demanding something be done -- that admin start treating Etsy like a "real" business and give the sellers the support they pay for - yada yada yada.

More people were very light-hearted about the outage, cheering Haim on, thanking admin for working 24 hours straight and trying so hard for everyone. I had to laugh at how many people listed all the chores - mostly housework - they got done because they weren't in front of their computers!!

When it was pointed out that Etsy does not charge that much, is growing by leaps and bounds, and working very hard to correct the problems - some of that first group got downright nasty - dropping the F-word and railing against admin, Etsy, and anyone who was daring to be patient! It was also pointed out - by me - and by several others - that buyers read that stuff and people might want to keep that in mind. But apparently being angry yelling about being treated unfairly was more important because they kept on.

So, putting on my customer cap right now, I can tell you there were 2 sellers in particular that were so demanding, ungrateful and nasty, that even if they have an item I want in their shops - and it is the only item of it's kind available anywhere - I will pass it up rather than buy from them. Such is the mindset of a customer. Not just "BetteJo customer" - but all customers. Not all are turned off by the same thing - but you never know what it may be so why be offensive if you don't have to be? It's funny because I think political correctness has gone to such an extreme in this country these days that less gets done because everyone is afraid to speak their mind. But there is a difference between being PC - and trying to always remember that online - I am always in view of a potential buyer.

So today, in "etc" there were a couple of threads that struck me as being in very bad taste - and WAY too much information for anyone trying to attract customers to their stores. I am aware that Etsy has targeted the the artsy, edgy, contemporary younger crowd out there. More "artists" than crafters, and that's fine. But not all buyers are young and certainly not all buyers are edgy! I can guarantee you right now that I could name 5 people off the top of my head who would be turned off enough by those threads to not buy from those seller's shops. So what happens? Censor them? Oh no, of course not! I just wish there was more common sense. Really the people engaging in that type of behavior are in the minority, but I do think it reflects on the rest of us to a certain extent.

I have come to really enjoy the community feel of Etsy, how nice people are and how personal it all feels. But seeing someone I have already bought from - and thought was really really nice - in a forum thread being irresponsible with their language and thoughts - makes me feel a tiny bit betrayed - like the person I bought from was fake. I don't know about anybody else - but I want to TRUST the people I buy from. HMMM.

So I suppose I need to ask myself right now - are these thoughts I should keep to myself? I dunno, I really don't. I feel a little like - how dare I - being so new to Etsy and all. I think I just like it so much - I want to believe it - and the people in it - are all wonderful, honest, and peaceful people.

I suppose I'm not too worried about what I'm saying because I have done nothing to bring people to my blog - until today when I posted it in my shop. But it's not a flashy blog, probably boring in comparison to others - and I guess I don't really think many people will read this. I still want to emphasize that anything I am saying is because I want Etsy to be good - to STAY good - and to get even better. I really like it - I want to LOVE it!!! I really have the best intentions.

On a completely different note - I am working on my big pot holder order and need to get back to it. My girlchild is home from school (college) and I was excited when she expressed an interest in actually - maybe - possibly - beading!! How fun!!! The boychild picked up a cake for Mother's day, and my JD brought me a bunch of flowers to plant in front of the house - his Mother's Day gift to me, just like last year. I think this will be a good weekend, I just have so much to do!!

Hope all the Moms out there have a wonderful Mother's Day weekend, and treat themselves to something special - hey - maybe something from my shop? LOL!! Shameless I tell ya!! :)

Nite! Hope it's a good one!!!

BetteJo