TIME MARCHES ON..... FLEW, REALLY....

Just occurred to me that I haven't done a blog entry since April - I don't know how many people out there really read some of my semi-pointless ramblings, but, somehow, I feel the need to keep those who do, informed about some of the behind the scenes stuff going on here, as being the small company, both personal and business life are intertwined, be it for the better or worse.

Things here are getting better, but still difficult. I can't go into details for obvious reasons, but the divorce is still dragging on, and is starting to take on a sort of Verdun siege campaign quality. I'm starting to emerge from what I call my "cave of depression", slowly trying to put the business back on some normal footing again (Hell, I'll even settle for what used to pass for normal, where things were almost working right!)

I'm not working my usual 10-14 hour days, my doctor told me to REALLY scale back, due to what she called "near crippling anxiety", after I landed in the ER a couple months ago. So now I'm going "part time", which means 6-8 hrs a day. But, my shop is my "happy place", I really enjoy what I do (when the pressure's off) so as a sort of therapy and escapism, I'll be adding a new section to the website soon!

The new section of the website is going to be called "Jeffie-Doodles" - This is going to be where all the misc stuff I paint & make for fun will be. It'll be color tests, figures I make "just because" , the stuff I make with the 3-D printer, me practicing painting with a new medium (water based acrylics, totally different & much more demanding skill set) and other things that aren't really related to the core business, but maybe you'd enjoy.

Now, before anyone starts complaining about "My order's taking forever, and you're screwing around with that stuff" (which I can pretty much guarantee you I'll hear) this is stuff I play with during my non-business time and I NEED some "down time"

Which brings us to the core business, and the coming onslaught known as "Christmas".... Again, this season, things will pretty much be in a holding pattern. With the "move that never happened" still taking its toll, and the stress for the divorce, I really haven't had the time (or ambition) to make new molds and really run off some decent quantities of inventory to replace the out of stock stuff. Cash reserves and tariff uncertainty have also prevented me from ordering decent levels of some of the other things I sell, like the Christmas ornaments I bring in from Germany, the smokers, advent calendars, etc. (Those lawyer bills REALLY add up) Best advice I can give you, if you see something that's either new, or finally back in stock, GRAB IT, because I don't know if I'll get around to making more this season.

When I speak of the "Barclay Family", I'm not talking about the people who bring you these products, I'm talking about ALL of us, both the producers and consumers. I like to think we all grew up together, some of you have been with me since I first started, and you saw me at the local train shows. You've been with me through the sickness and death of my mother, when mt son had that big operation, the sickness and death of my father, we've been through a lot together. Hopefully, that "family atmosphere" can be felt again as we go into the upcoming Christmas season, order early, be patient with me, because right now I am truly a one man show, and we just might be able to pull off another one!

If you made it this far, thanks for taking the time to read this, and chances are, if you did make it this far, it means that you're one of those loyal customers I was talking about, and thanks to YOU, I'm able to do what I do!