Monday: Back to work after a weekend that was way too short. I ran to the post office and got the info I needed to open up an account for bulk mailings. That should save me a bunch of money sending out my newsletters. Over the short run it is more expensive because there is an application fee and a yearly fee to have the account, but over the long term it will certainly save me money, especially as the mailing list grows in numbers. I worked on the web site some more, cut & milled soap, made lip balms, and made samplers.
Tuesday: I got the computer fixed. There was something going on where I couldn’t get online to work on my web page. It was like every other web site worked just fine, just not the one I really wanted to get on and do something with. I still don’t know what the problem was but after hours of conversations with my host company, my IP provider, and anyone else who would listen, it finally stated to work the next morning. I took an Aromatherapy class in the evening. It was strange. I had a hard time finding the place at first because it really just is a house with a few rooms used for healing modalities (like massage). I had a bad vibe when I arrived that the class was going to be hokey. It was in some ways but not the ways I expected. I usually get classes and sessions about herbs and essential oils that are wrapped in “new age” or “pagan” beliefs. I get very little real and scientific information about the herbs or oils. This class actually had some good information about the oils themselves, but was surrounded by “false information” about how there are no other pure oils except for one particular manufacturer. A manufacturer that I won’t name, but sells through a “distributorship”, a sort of “upline”, ok, multi-level marketing that inflates prices and makes dubious claims abut what the oils can do to cure and heal.
Wednesday: I made fizzys. I hate making fizzys. But I got into a groove and it wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be. I got about 450 made during the rest of the week, and besides having a backache from standing, I lived through it. I also got some lip balms made and some soap.
Thursday: Like Wednesday but I got the fizzys I made the day befor wrapped as well.
Friday: Like Thursday. What happed to my days off on Friday? I used to get Fridays off but I have been so busy with so much to do I just keep working…
Saturday: We went to Best Buy to pick up a new I-Pod. We had sent one in to be fixed and it was lost by Best Buy, or UPS, no one knows for sure, they each seem to blame each other. After that we went to Lowes to order new blinds for the living room, dining room, and kitchen. It took forever to get them ordered, everything went wrong, they missed windows when they came to measure, the woman entering the information into the computer couldn’t type slower. When we showed up to do it, the one person who could help us was on lunch. Yikes! When we were done we were too tired to do anything else so we went for lunch and then went home…
Sunday: We went to BJ’s, and then a car show that was in town. It was more like a bunch of dealers getting together to show cars in an auditorium than a real car show. There was only one or two concept cars, and many manufacturers were missing. I was hoping they would have a Smart Car because I really want one, but nope. After the show we went home and I got to watch the race. Then we went to the movies and saw Shooter. It was a good movie and we enjoyed it. We had stopped for ice cream before and I got this huge milk shake.
3.26.2007
March 12-18, 2007 Week 11
I hate when I get behind on my weekly logs. Things are going by so fast lately I can barely remember what happened yesterday, forget trying to remember last week..
Monday C left for another trip to Mexico. The good news is that he should be traveling less since they want him to take a more “managerial” position at work, so his underlings should do most of the traveling…K came to work as its her spring break. I feel bad having her work over break, but I know she needs/wants the money, just like any college student. I just think that I never got a spring break in college, I was always in some theatre building some show for hours on end, while the actors went to memorize lines in Daytona Beach. I want her to enjoy some things that I didn’t get to enjoy. I was in such a rush to go to school, to get done with school, to get into the big bad world I let so many things pass me by…Anyway…I did the usual, the laundry, bills, blogged, and made soap. K labeled lotion bars and then we made a bunch of bath fizzys. J ended up in the hospital again because of her GI problems. They ran a bunch of tests and haven’t been able to determine the source of her troubles. But that meant I spent the bulk of the afternoon and evening worrying about her.
Tuesday C was still in Mexico and K came over again. We made more soap, got more lotions wrapped, the fizzys wrapped, and I finally got the newsletters written, printed and folded.
Wednesday: C still gone, K working again. We got the last of the lotions wrapped, cornstarch broken down from the 25 lb bags I bought it in, into smaller more manageable containers, weighed out ingredients for fizzys, and made more soap. I got the 2007 catalogs done and folded. I hate it when I get something done that I have looked at a million times just to find typos. That is what happened this time too. Hopefully I found and fixed them all.
Thursday: C was supposed to come home but a scheduling discrepancy meant that a meeting that was supposed to be Thursday morning was being held on Friday morning so he has to spend another night in Mexico. K came over again. She got all the bath salts labeled, oils measured out for soap, and we finally got all the newsletters and catalogs in envelopes and ready to be sent.
Friday: C was supposed to come home from Mexico, but it snowed. He made it as far as North Carolina, but his connecting flight was cancelled. So he got a hotel and hunkered down for the night. K didn’t make it because of the snow. I got some orders ready to send out and some samplers made. I also shoveled some of the snow out of the driveway.
Saturday: With it looking like C wouldn’t get a flight home till Tuesday or later, he and a colleague rented a car and drove from North Carolina to PA/NJ. I got out the snow blower for the first time and got the entire house dug out. It was very empowering to be able to handle the machine and to get everything clean and safe. It was physically demanding but I actually enjoyed doing it. I also got some grocery shopping done at the new Fresh Market. It was a nice place, a little expensive, but they had a great selection of fresh fish and meats. I worked on my web site and started doing my events calendar in Google. It’s a really cool thing and I think it will work great for being able to show customers where I will be when. It even has a great map feature so people can figure out how far away shows are from where they live. And then I knit. I have been working on an afghan for B and I got the first two sections of it done, and then knit them together backwards. Now I need to get the time and the desire to rip them apart and put them back together. It was so frustrating I just can’t look at it yet. C made it home safe about 9 pm.
Sunday: More work on the web page and the calendar. We went to AC Moore so I could by a new display for the craft booth. Of course its not meant to be a display, but that is what I am going to use it for. And I got to watch the NASCAR race.
Monday C left for another trip to Mexico. The good news is that he should be traveling less since they want him to take a more “managerial” position at work, so his underlings should do most of the traveling…K came to work as its her spring break. I feel bad having her work over break, but I know she needs/wants the money, just like any college student. I just think that I never got a spring break in college, I was always in some theatre building some show for hours on end, while the actors went to memorize lines in Daytona Beach. I want her to enjoy some things that I didn’t get to enjoy. I was in such a rush to go to school, to get done with school, to get into the big bad world I let so many things pass me by…Anyway…I did the usual, the laundry, bills, blogged, and made soap. K labeled lotion bars and then we made a bunch of bath fizzys. J ended up in the hospital again because of her GI problems. They ran a bunch of tests and haven’t been able to determine the source of her troubles. But that meant I spent the bulk of the afternoon and evening worrying about her.
Tuesday C was still in Mexico and K came over again. We made more soap, got more lotions wrapped, the fizzys wrapped, and I finally got the newsletters written, printed and folded.
Wednesday: C still gone, K working again. We got the last of the lotions wrapped, cornstarch broken down from the 25 lb bags I bought it in, into smaller more manageable containers, weighed out ingredients for fizzys, and made more soap. I got the 2007 catalogs done and folded. I hate it when I get something done that I have looked at a million times just to find typos. That is what happened this time too. Hopefully I found and fixed them all.
Thursday: C was supposed to come home but a scheduling discrepancy meant that a meeting that was supposed to be Thursday morning was being held on Friday morning so he has to spend another night in Mexico. K came over again. She got all the bath salts labeled, oils measured out for soap, and we finally got all the newsletters and catalogs in envelopes and ready to be sent.
Friday: C was supposed to come home from Mexico, but it snowed. He made it as far as North Carolina, but his connecting flight was cancelled. So he got a hotel and hunkered down for the night. K didn’t make it because of the snow. I got some orders ready to send out and some samplers made. I also shoveled some of the snow out of the driveway.
Saturday: With it looking like C wouldn’t get a flight home till Tuesday or later, he and a colleague rented a car and drove from North Carolina to PA/NJ. I got out the snow blower for the first time and got the entire house dug out. It was very empowering to be able to handle the machine and to get everything clean and safe. It was physically demanding but I actually enjoyed doing it. I also got some grocery shopping done at the new Fresh Market. It was a nice place, a little expensive, but they had a great selection of fresh fish and meats. I worked on my web site and started doing my events calendar in Google. It’s a really cool thing and I think it will work great for being able to show customers where I will be when. It even has a great map feature so people can figure out how far away shows are from where they live. And then I knit. I have been working on an afghan for B and I got the first two sections of it done, and then knit them together backwards. Now I need to get the time and the desire to rip them apart and put them back together. It was so frustrating I just can’t look at it yet. C made it home safe about 9 pm.
Sunday: More work on the web page and the calendar. We went to AC Moore so I could by a new display for the craft booth. Of course its not meant to be a display, but that is what I am going to use it for. And I got to watch the NASCAR race.
3.12.2007
March 5-11, 2007 Week 10
Monday: It was my second day in Atlantic City with B. In the morning we scooted over to the Trump Marina and then to the Borgata. We caught some lunch at a restraint back in Harrah’s and after lunch we hit the pool area. It’s small, but indoors, so there is not much better than a few hours in the pool on a 30 degree day. We went back to the room to clean up and change from out bathing suits and both ended up taking cat naps. We were tired from loosing all that money! We then went to dinner at the new buffet. It was good, but I miss the old seafood buffet. Now it is just like any other buffet in Atlantic City. Bummer. The rest of the evening was spent trying vainly to win back some dough.
Tuesday after breakfast we left Atlantic City on a whirl wind tour of Philly and its outlying suburbs in the search for cool bead and/or yarn stores. The find for the day was in Chadds Ford where B found a great bead shop, right around the corner from a great yarn store. Bingo! We hit the jackpot! We headed for the IKEA and then had dinner at Houlihan’s before making our way home for the day. It was a long and exhausting day, I was ready for bed as soon as I made it home…
Wednesday: Bonus day.. Why you may ask was Wednesday a bonus day? Well because I had put it in my schedule to expect to be out of town, thus not get any work done. Instead I caught up on bills, e-mails, mail, phone calls, etc. I even made a bunch of Lotion Bars and had time to shovel the snow before C made it home from work.
Thursday: Another bonus day! This one I spent making even more lotion Bars, a bunch of soap, and about 5 hours on the phone with my credit card processor trying to get my terminal to work, again.. This is an ongoing problem where the terminal won’t process a payment and they spend hours trying to “rebuild my file” or “fix the server” or some other junk excuse. I can’t wait to change processors.
Friday: Laundry day- I needed to wash my shop towels, I was all out. I also took care of some dad things (I have a big list of dad things to do and now am trying to do a few each week). I made the last of the lotion bars that I could, I now have to order containers, and started the March-April newsletter (yeah, I know its late) but forgot to save it, so I lost all of my data and need to start again.
Saturday: C and I spent the day out and about. It started at the Post Office, where I got two more acceptance letters. Then we ran to the drycleaner. We then started our search for a Salad Shooter, I need a professional grade one, so we decided to check out thrift stores and garage sales. I found one, but it was the small one, but I bought it anyway. Still looking for a professional one though. We stopped at Circuit City as well as Staples, Home Dept, and Target. Lunch was at Matey’s- it was real good cheesesteaks.
Sunday: Home depot again…The good news is I found a great sink at Home Depot real cheap. I am getting ready to redo my workshop and I wanted a new stainless steel sink. We just happened to go into the clearance section and they had a nice one for $100 off! So now I just have to find someplace to store it until the redo in June/July. We also ended up back at Circuit City and Staples. I got C to run through AC Moore with me, where I bought a new holder for my circular knitting needles. C also talked me into baking him cupcakes. So we stopped for cake mix and frosting too. Once we got home I worked on getting a new merchant provider (to get rid of the one I fought with all day Thursday) and I’ll hear back from them in a few days. Then I watched (read into this as slept through) the NASCAR race, cooked dinner (after I woke up) and then C and I took the rest of the night to discuss things like my catalog design, and my impending spring vegetable garden.
Tuesday after breakfast we left Atlantic City on a whirl wind tour of Philly and its outlying suburbs in the search for cool bead and/or yarn stores. The find for the day was in Chadds Ford where B found a great bead shop, right around the corner from a great yarn store. Bingo! We hit the jackpot! We headed for the IKEA and then had dinner at Houlihan’s before making our way home for the day. It was a long and exhausting day, I was ready for bed as soon as I made it home…
Wednesday: Bonus day.. Why you may ask was Wednesday a bonus day? Well because I had put it in my schedule to expect to be out of town, thus not get any work done. Instead I caught up on bills, e-mails, mail, phone calls, etc. I even made a bunch of Lotion Bars and had time to shovel the snow before C made it home from work.
Thursday: Another bonus day! This one I spent making even more lotion Bars, a bunch of soap, and about 5 hours on the phone with my credit card processor trying to get my terminal to work, again.. This is an ongoing problem where the terminal won’t process a payment and they spend hours trying to “rebuild my file” or “fix the server” or some other junk excuse. I can’t wait to change processors.
Friday: Laundry day- I needed to wash my shop towels, I was all out. I also took care of some dad things (I have a big list of dad things to do and now am trying to do a few each week). I made the last of the lotion bars that I could, I now have to order containers, and started the March-April newsletter (yeah, I know its late) but forgot to save it, so I lost all of my data and need to start again.
Saturday: C and I spent the day out and about. It started at the Post Office, where I got two more acceptance letters. Then we ran to the drycleaner. We then started our search for a Salad Shooter, I need a professional grade one, so we decided to check out thrift stores and garage sales. I found one, but it was the small one, but I bought it anyway. Still looking for a professional one though. We stopped at Circuit City as well as Staples, Home Dept, and Target. Lunch was at Matey’s- it was real good cheesesteaks.
Sunday: Home depot again…The good news is I found a great sink at Home Depot real cheap. I am getting ready to redo my workshop and I wanted a new stainless steel sink. We just happened to go into the clearance section and they had a nice one for $100 off! So now I just have to find someplace to store it until the redo in June/July. We also ended up back at Circuit City and Staples. I got C to run through AC Moore with me, where I bought a new holder for my circular knitting needles. C also talked me into baking him cupcakes. So we stopped for cake mix and frosting too. Once we got home I worked on getting a new merchant provider (to get rid of the one I fought with all day Thursday) and I’ll hear back from them in a few days. Then I watched (read into this as slept through) the NASCAR race, cooked dinner (after I woke up) and then C and I took the rest of the night to discuss things like my catalog design, and my impending spring vegetable garden.
3.07.2007
February 26-March 4, 2007 Week 9
Monday: J was still here because of the snow. Her flight had been cancelled and she rescheduled it for Tuesday. We made tons of bath fizzys (close to 500) and a days worth of soap. At night we relaxed, watched TV and knit and crocheted
Tuesday: Early morning trip to the airport to get J home. Her flight from Allentown tp Philly was fine but it took her a few tried to make it from Philly home, and her luggage didn’t make the trip with her. I took the day and paid bills, worked on my web site design, designed my 2007 catalogs, finally, and C and I went to BJ’s that night so I could get some supplies and some stuff for the house. Don’t know what was up but my left hip was killing me, I could hardly walk around the store.
Wednesday: I met with Barb and we went over goals. I was doing pretty well on the goals I had set for the past two weeks. Pretty much I needed to get my catalogs finalized and proofread, I have a bunch of stuff that I STILL haven’t gotten on eBay, and a few things I need to order are out of stock, but everything else was done. I made an aggressive list of things to do for the next two weeks as well. It keeps me on my toes for sure! After we met I sent out a few show applications and worked on my second sock of my first pair of socks I am knitting. I really have to think and pay attention when I knit it so I have to be in the right mood to work on it. It’s not all that hard, but it is my first pair, so it’s not all that easy either.
Thursday: I made soap and wrapped the fizzies, but most of the day and night I had a migraine, so I slept as much as I could and rested so it would go away.
Friday: More soap made and I got oils and lye measured out for basic soap to make the next day. I also broke down 120 lbs of baking soda into plastic bags so I could mix ingredients for bath fizzys. That took forever! I also made lotion bars, two fragrances down, four to go!
Saturday: I got ready for my trip with B. I made 4 batches of basic soap. C and I went to Lowe’s and a local store that is closing so that I could see if I could find displays. There was a lot of cool stuff there, but I didn’t see anything I could use. C and I went to Fudruckers for lunch and then just chilled for the rest of the day.
RIP Mandy: My mom had the unfortunate need to put Mandy, her dog, to sleep in the wee hours of Saturday. My Mandible was 14 years young but was suffering from kidney failure, and little could be done to save her. Mandy came to live with us when I was a freshman in college, so she was much more my mom’s dog than mine, but Mandy loved me anyways. She always knew the sound of my car, and ran down the driveway to meet me. In her old age, she knew not even to bother to bark, because it was me, and I was safe. Mom got to hold her as she passed, and thinking of my mom’s pain even now makes me teary eyed. But at least I know Mandy is someplace, pain free, full of energy and bliss. Thank you for 14 years of unconditional love, my friend….
Sunday: B, M, C, and I met for breakfast and then B and I went to Atlantic City for our second annual, bi-annual, girl’s weekend away. If that sentence didn’t make any sense- we went twice last year, spring and fall, and now again this spring, and we plan on going in the fall this year as well. We stayed at Harrah’s for two nights and Sunday after playing in the casino there we went to Showboat to hang out and to have dinner. I actually wasn’t down that much money by the end of the night, but things do have the ability to change….
Tuesday: Early morning trip to the airport to get J home. Her flight from Allentown tp Philly was fine but it took her a few tried to make it from Philly home, and her luggage didn’t make the trip with her. I took the day and paid bills, worked on my web site design, designed my 2007 catalogs, finally, and C and I went to BJ’s that night so I could get some supplies and some stuff for the house. Don’t know what was up but my left hip was killing me, I could hardly walk around the store.
Wednesday: I met with Barb and we went over goals. I was doing pretty well on the goals I had set for the past two weeks. Pretty much I needed to get my catalogs finalized and proofread, I have a bunch of stuff that I STILL haven’t gotten on eBay, and a few things I need to order are out of stock, but everything else was done. I made an aggressive list of things to do for the next two weeks as well. It keeps me on my toes for sure! After we met I sent out a few show applications and worked on my second sock of my first pair of socks I am knitting. I really have to think and pay attention when I knit it so I have to be in the right mood to work on it. It’s not all that hard, but it is my first pair, so it’s not all that easy either.
Thursday: I made soap and wrapped the fizzies, but most of the day and night I had a migraine, so I slept as much as I could and rested so it would go away.
Friday: More soap made and I got oils and lye measured out for basic soap to make the next day. I also broke down 120 lbs of baking soda into plastic bags so I could mix ingredients for bath fizzys. That took forever! I also made lotion bars, two fragrances down, four to go!
Saturday: I got ready for my trip with B. I made 4 batches of basic soap. C and I went to Lowe’s and a local store that is closing so that I could see if I could find displays. There was a lot of cool stuff there, but I didn’t see anything I could use. C and I went to Fudruckers for lunch and then just chilled for the rest of the day.
RIP Mandy: My mom had the unfortunate need to put Mandy, her dog, to sleep in the wee hours of Saturday. My Mandible was 14 years young but was suffering from kidney failure, and little could be done to save her. Mandy came to live with us when I was a freshman in college, so she was much more my mom’s dog than mine, but Mandy loved me anyways. She always knew the sound of my car, and ran down the driveway to meet me. In her old age, she knew not even to bother to bark, because it was me, and I was safe. Mom got to hold her as she passed, and thinking of my mom’s pain even now makes me teary eyed. But at least I know Mandy is someplace, pain free, full of energy and bliss. Thank you for 14 years of unconditional love, my friend….
Sunday: B, M, C, and I met for breakfast and then B and I went to Atlantic City for our second annual, bi-annual, girl’s weekend away. If that sentence didn’t make any sense- we went twice last year, spring and fall, and now again this spring, and we plan on going in the fall this year as well. We stayed at Harrah’s for two nights and Sunday after playing in the casino there we went to Showboat to hang out and to have dinner. I actually wasn’t down that much money by the end of the night, but things do have the ability to change….
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