Hey there, everyone!

Good lord, it's the first of December. Part of me feels like, "Already?" and another part of me is like, "Finally." This year has certainly been a frakkin' year, hasn't it? But hey, let's not dwell on that. Let's talk about something first that I've been harping on over on BlueSky all weekend.

Support small businesses.

I'm not just talking about me, I'm talking about any business that carries stuff that you, or the people you love, like. Indie record stores, book shops, game stores, comic shops, clothing stores, all sorts of places that if you look around your town, you can find. If you're shopping online, buy from smaller creators through their Etsy shops, their Mayhem shops, their Ko-Fi shops, or their *gasp* own websites! If you're shopping through something like Etsy or Mayhem and someone asks where you bought the item, don't say the platform, credit the creator! "Oh, you like this X-Wing helmet ? Yeah, I got it from DH-P/FX over on Mayhem!" Now, why am I harping on this?

Simple.

If you buy something from a major retailer, that's all good and fine. Sure, you saved $5 and got free "next day" shipping, but Jeff Bezos isn't going to give a flying rat's ass until it's time to buy yet another yacht, or he wants to blast off another rocket. But, if you get that Crystal Jewelry Set from Desert Lily Artistry? You're helping an artisan put food on the table and a roof over their head. These days, that's frakkin' huge.

Money is tight for everyone, I get it, and I'm not shaming you for saving that $5 because you need it elsewhere. Just, if you have the means, please don't go "one stop shopping," filling a shopping cart on Amazon and calling it a day. Please look around your town, or look around the internet, find those small business owners and artisans, and give them some love. If you're over on BlueSky, I've got a "Starter Pack" that's got a lot of great small businesses on it to support.

I have a feeling though that, if you're reading this post, I'm kinda preaching to the choir, but I still wanted to get that out of my system.

Now, what's happening here at the Trading Post?

New Products

While I'm still having printer issues, I was still able to get a good amount of items photographed and listed yesterday.

• Last week, I added the Platypus and Capybara Fidget Critters. This week, I've added a Bat, Rat, Opossums, and Mouse by MatMire Makes to the Fidget Critters Listing!
• A new Dragon Toilet Paper Holder from Fates End is here to offer you your butt napkins! We now have one in a Steel-colored filament!
• With the holidays just around the corner, I've added more Fidget Clickers from Layers in Green. Check out the Reindeer and Snowman clickers under the Jolly Holiday Fidget Clickers listing!
• New earrings have dropped! Check out the new Hammerhead Sharks using files by MatMire Makes!
• Do you like the Fantasy TTRPG-inspired ducks, but aren't sure where you want to put it? Might I suggest our new Ducky Dice Tower by Fate's End, which has a special spot for your ducky at the top of the tower?
• Finally, do you need a place to put your pocket items every night so you don't lose them? Or your jewelry? Then maybe the Froggy Catch-All Dish from Layers in Green would be to your liking?

Looking ahead to this coming week, I'm realizing my list of items that I photographed today was not everything I needed, so I need to unpack everything again and get more photos, but that probably won't happen until next weekend. In the meantime, I'm going to keep trying to figure out what's wrong with the A1 Mini, printing larger single color pieces on the P1P, and working on the "Cosplay Props" section of the shop.

Everything Else

Here are some other shop updates and information, in no particular order of importance, except for the top post.

• I can not stress this enough! In order to ensure packages arrive on or before December 25th, they need to be shipped by Wednesday, December 17th. Since I ship USPS Ground Advantage, tha means any orders I get after 6:00 AM EST on that date are not guaranteed to make it by Christmas. Also note that, due to the "OH SHIT" event, the shop will be down on the 13th and 14th. Speaking of that...
• The "OH SHIT Sunday Shopping" event at Tinker is just a few weeks away! It's running from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM on Sunday the 14th here in Indianapolis, Indiana, and it's free to get in! You can find more information here on their Facebook Event Page, or on their Eventbrite Page if you just despise Meta! As we have a limited amount of space, I'm already working on curating my table as opposed to just throwing everything in boxes and hoping for the best, but if you're going and have a request, please let me know!
• Once this event and the shipping deadline has passed, the shop is probably going to go into vacation mode from the 19th through January 5th as I figure out what path I'm taking next year.
• Sorry/not sorry for the amount of promotion I'm going to be queuing up for the first 17 days of December. It's that time of year, and a small business has to do what a small business has to do to survive.
• As I said above, the A1 Mini is still being problematic. I've run calibrations, I've swapped nozzles, I've done a factory reset, and it's still having issues dragging the nozzle and under extruding. Next up is disassembling the extruder to make sure nothing above the nozzle is gunked up.
• Also, please buy stuff. I need to get some replacement parts for the printers so I can do some maintenance on them during the end-of-the-year break.
• Remember, if you want to really keep up to date on what I'm doing, you can find me on BlueSky, Facebook, and Instagram. Not only do I show shop stuff there, but I also share some other fantastic creators' work that I'm sure you're going to like.
• If you've read this far, you are a fantastic and wonderful person, and I appreciate you immensely.

That should do it for this week. I hope you all have a fantastic week, and please remember if you're going shopping this weekend, be kind to everyone. Both your service workers and your fellow shoppers. Unless they're being a total ass, then feel free to shame them. In the meantime, take good care of yourselves, and each other.

Tony