Massachusetts - the setting of yet another revolution?

Whodathunkit? Massachusetts, home of the Kennedys and John Kerry, is home once again to an American Revolution of sorts.

The election of Republican Scott Brown to fill deceased Ted Kennedy's senate seat has turned the tables on the Democrats. No longer do they have a filibuster-proof majority enabling them to push through any legislation they want.

Now the democrats will have to actually DEBATE health care reform and listen to viewpoints besides their own.

I love America!

I love Etsy, I really do. But . . .

I have a shop on Etsy. For those of you who are not familiar with Etsy, let me give some background.

As its slogan states, Etsy is a place to buy & sell all things handmade. Etsy is a venue that lets sellers open a shop and list their wares for a listing fee of $0.20. Then, if the item sells, Etsy collects 3.5% of the sales price. Prior to selling on Etsy, I had my own website. I gave that up because it is incredibly time consuming to maintain! Etsy makes it easy.

Etsy makes it easy. And that's part of the problem. It is all too easy for people to start up a shop on Etsy and start selling whatever they want. Etsy does not monitor new listings; they trust that you will be listing genuinely handmade items, vintage items that are 20 or more years old, or crafting supplies. But many, many, many shops are nothing but "resellers" who view Etsy as a cheaper alternative to ebay.

To combat this problem, Etsy has a "flagging" system. If you spot an item that is not supposed to be sold on Etsy, you are asked to flag it and bring it to the content team's attention. They are supposed to review each and every flagged item and take down items that are not within Etsy's Terms of Use (TOU).

That doesn't seem to be doing much good. I've flagged lots of stuff that is obviously breaking the TOU, but the items are still there. And from the comments I'm seeing on Etsy's community forums, I am not alone in this.

Etsy recently re-hired Rob Kalin as its new CEO (or whatever muckety-muck title). At first sellers were quite hopeful that he would begin implementing some changes. But so far, the only changes we've seen have been cosmetic and have not addressed the most serious issue - resellers.

So to Etsy, I say this: I can live without coupon codes, the ability to open multiple shops, and changes to Etsy's community forums. First things first. The reseller issue MUST be addressed. It is taking business away from legitimate sellers, and it is bringing seller morale to an unbelievable low - which cannot be good for business.

Before You Give to Relief Efforts in Haiti . . .

No, this isn't a "beware of scammers" warning - although those warnings are warranted.

Before you contribute to relief efforts in Haiti, do some research. If you work for a large company, check to see if they have any type of charitable contribution matching program. The company I work for is matching donations made to the Red Cross up to $250,000. That doubles my donation and makes me feel a little bit better about my contribution!

Orange Rolls

We had "breakfast for dinner" tonight at my house, and I pulled out a recipe that I haven't made in a long time. I had forgotten how delicious these are! So easy, too!

Orange Rolls

1 can refrigerated biscuits (not the flaky-layers style!)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
One large orange

Remove the zest from the orange and chop into very fine pieces. Combine orange zest with the sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl.

Cut orange in half and squeeze the juice into a shallow bowl.

Dip the biscuits in the orange juice, then dredge in the sugar mixture. Put biscuits into a 9-inch round pan coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle any remaining sugar mixture over biscuits, and drizzle any remaining orange juice on top. Bake at 350 degrees (F) for 25 minutes. Serve warm.

YUM-O!

Icy in Georgia

We got a little snow yesterday afternoon and last night. Not a lot, but enough to cause complete havoc! It's only 22 degrees and the snow that fell has turned into nasty ice on our roads.

I tried to go in to work this morning but had to turn around due to all the ice. Yuk, yuk, yuk!

The Sky This Morning

Here's the lovely view I was greeted with on my way to work this morning. WOW.





I won't attempt to wax eloquent. A picture is worth a thousand words!

I thought I lived in Georgia.

Apparently I was wrong. I must be in Minnesota or something. 'Cause it's 19 degrees outside! No snow, but 19 degrees!!!!

BRRRRRRRR!

(Photo from http://www.icanhazcheezburger.com/)