First, the somewhat good news. As a bit of background: earlier this month, hubby received his paperwork to sign up for health insurance. But the company had had a delay in getting the paperwork to the newly-eligible employees, and he only had 36 hours to turn it in before the deadline. We decided not to go w/ the company insurance, and instead look into getting some private insurance. Well, we didn't start the "looking-into" process until after the deadline, and were sad to find out that maternity coverage would be either nonexistent or would be as much as we were paying for COBRA anyway. I had hubby bring home a benefits book b/c we couldn't tell from the enrollment paperwork if maternity was covered under their plan or not. Well, it is, but the next open enrollment isn't until January (effective that same month also). But, at least we knew so we could try to plan.
Then today, hubby calls me and it turns out that he CAN still go ahead and sign up for insurance after all! I still had the other copy of the form at home so we went over it together and signed up. :) Now we just have to wait on our cards, and hopefully Lydia's doctor is covered. I couldn't find the name of the insurance company or a way to check the provider directory in any of the paperwork. It'll all work out though, I'm sure.
My to-do list from a few weeks ago has changed. I've finished some things, and decided not to do others, and added a few different things. I still have my store open over on Hyena Cart, and have also joined a congo, which is a group of stores all under one "roof." Everyone in it is going to have new, in-stock items at once (the first and third Wednesdays). So part of my recent accomplishments have to do with that new congo that I'm a part of now.
Recent accomplishments:
- finished crocheting the play food for the congo's grand opening day
- finished crocheting the FFS (free for shipping) items for the congo's pre-opening sale
- took pictures of the above items and got the listings ready to list
New to-do list for March:
- do some transcription if work is available (2/28 only)
- work on Lydia's skirty as time allows (I've figured out a way to make a pleated crocheted skirt and am going to make a wool diaper cover using that method)
- finish pants for one of the April outfits for sale
- use the pinking shears on the completed outfits
- finish all four pillowcase dresses
- try out the new rolled hem foot on a curved edge (I'm waiting on this in the mail)
- make melon redondo dress
- crochet play food for the 3/19 in-stock date
- re-do state and federal taxes (I've received both refunds, but got one more form in the mail after I sent it off, so I have to send in a revised return for both of these entities)
- crochet the food for the first April in-stock date
- make Lydia's 15 month well-baby appointment
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
bobbing for.... sippy cups?
The way she's trying to get her sippy cup reminds me of bobbing for apples.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
releasing some woes
Just felt a need to unload a few woes here so I can stop dwelling on them. I know that God will take care of us and He knows what's going to happen in the future (b/c He's already IN the future, like I saw on a local church sign the other day), but it's human nature to worry a little. Or a lot sometimes. Typing it out (in addition to prayer, etc.) sometimes helps me to release it.
Woe 1: Our COBRA will end at the end of this month. Hubby's work only gave him about a day to review the benefits sign-up paperwork, and he decided not to do it and that we could just get private insurance for cheaper. Which we can, but it won't have maternity coverage. That's not going to be a huge deal since we're planning a homebirth for future babies, but on the off chance that we have to go to the hospital, then nothing will be covered. His open enrollment isn't until January, and will be effective that same month, so we have a whole year to wait for that.
Woe 2: I'm getting nervous about hubby's job. It seemed like such a blessing at first, but he keeps telling me that people get let go if they don't make their sales goals for 3 months in a row. And not just if you're still new, either, but anyone. And it doesn't matter if you're doing all that you can to try to sell a car. Hubby makes appointments over the phone w/ people, but then they reschedule and/or don't come in at all. After that, he still makes the appropriate follow up calls to try to reschedule again but usually these leads just fizzle out.
Woe 3: Also related to hubby's work... our income for the next couple of paychecks is looking to be VERY thin. Tomorrow is the last day of a pay period, and so far hubby has sold ONE car. The customers just haven't been coming in at all. I'm hoping that he can squeeze out 2 tomorrow, but if tomorrow is like the days up there have been, then there will be no sales tomorrow either.
Woe 4: My business is just squeaking along. I have tentative plans for a bazaar at the end of April, but I'm working on lining up help for that and getting an inventory started. As for regular sales, my mother-in-law has been my only sale this month. She is going to take them up to her work, though, and try to market me there, so maybe I'll be able to get some sales that way. And I am going to be in an Easter basket collaboration with a few other work at home moms, and then in a "conglomoration" of stores in April (trying to sell something that I've never made for sale before... should be interesting). And my samples box is going on sale tomorrow, so they should bring me some business too. So this woe isn't as woeful as it could be.
Woe 5: Lydia's still taking her own sweet time with development. She still has a whopping zero words. She doesn't even have any "nonsense" words that she uses over and over again to mean the same thing. She will finally stand on her own for longer than 3 seconds, but I can't put her in that position and she still prefers to be down closer to the ground. She will walk along with us, but only if she has a death grip on us with BOTH her hands (i.e. she won't walk by holding onto just one hand). BUT she is VERY happy most of the time and healthy and just a joy to be around. So this woe doesn't really "count" either.
As for those first few woes, though, I really want to release them from my constant thoughts. I know everything will be OK... I just don't know HOW.
Woe 1: Our COBRA will end at the end of this month. Hubby's work only gave him about a day to review the benefits sign-up paperwork, and he decided not to do it and that we could just get private insurance for cheaper. Which we can, but it won't have maternity coverage. That's not going to be a huge deal since we're planning a homebirth for future babies, but on the off chance that we have to go to the hospital, then nothing will be covered. His open enrollment isn't until January, and will be effective that same month, so we have a whole year to wait for that.
Woe 2: I'm getting nervous about hubby's job. It seemed like such a blessing at first, but he keeps telling me that people get let go if they don't make their sales goals for 3 months in a row. And not just if you're still new, either, but anyone. And it doesn't matter if you're doing all that you can to try to sell a car. Hubby makes appointments over the phone w/ people, but then they reschedule and/or don't come in at all. After that, he still makes the appropriate follow up calls to try to reschedule again but usually these leads just fizzle out.
Woe 3: Also related to hubby's work... our income for the next couple of paychecks is looking to be VERY thin. Tomorrow is the last day of a pay period, and so far hubby has sold ONE car. The customers just haven't been coming in at all. I'm hoping that he can squeeze out 2 tomorrow, but if tomorrow is like the days up there have been, then there will be no sales tomorrow either.
Woe 4: My business is just squeaking along. I have tentative plans for a bazaar at the end of April, but I'm working on lining up help for that and getting an inventory started. As for regular sales, my mother-in-law has been my only sale this month. She is going to take them up to her work, though, and try to market me there, so maybe I'll be able to get some sales that way. And I am going to be in an Easter basket collaboration with a few other work at home moms, and then in a "conglomoration" of stores in April (trying to sell something that I've never made for sale before... should be interesting). And my samples box is going on sale tomorrow, so they should bring me some business too. So this woe isn't as woeful as it could be.
Woe 5: Lydia's still taking her own sweet time with development. She still has a whopping zero words. She doesn't even have any "nonsense" words that she uses over and over again to mean the same thing. She will finally stand on her own for longer than 3 seconds, but I can't put her in that position and she still prefers to be down closer to the ground. She will walk along with us, but only if she has a death grip on us with BOTH her hands (i.e. she won't walk by holding onto just one hand). BUT she is VERY happy most of the time and healthy and just a joy to be around. So this woe doesn't really "count" either.
As for those first few woes, though, I really want to release them from my constant thoughts. I know everything will be OK... I just don't know HOW.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
busy busy busy
Wow, I am busy. I have a big list of craft items with deadlines coming up before I really want them to, and that's of course apart from my regular household obligations.
Since I'm still in the first year of my store, a lot of what I'm doing is marketing-related. I need to get my name out there and get some word of mouth referrals started. But meanwhile I also have a few non-store crafts, the first of which is a set of Valentine's washcloths. At church, there is a whole pew of widows, and some of us are getting together to make them some Valentine's gift bags. I'm making a dozen washcloths. They are my first attempt at tunisian crochet, and I'm making a heart design right into the stitch pattern. I am finished with the tunisian part on all 12 of them, and now will just have to border them. I should be able to finish these by tomorrow night and give them back to the girl who's assembling the baskets.
Then next on the list is a green scrubby w/ a rainbow border for my mom. I made her a Scrubcloth over the holidays, and she wanted a scrubby by itself as well. I made her a purple one already but during a recent phone conversation, she said that she wanted two. So this green one will be her second one. I haven't mailed the first one yet b/c I'm also still waiting on something to send to my dad. There's no real "due" date on this one, but it'll just take half an hour so I'm going to squeeze it in as time allows.
After that, I am going to make some Easter-themed play food. The site that my store is hosted at has a TON of stores, and several vendors are getting together to make a couple of gender-neutral, one-size-fits-all Easter baskets to auction off. I'm very excited about this project. The due date is March 1, when I will need to send the items off to the person who will assemble the basket.
Also for Easter, for my own store, I want to stock several little beaded headbands. I may just skip that whole project, though, depending on if time allows. But the due date on that one, if I do it, is also March 1.
Last month, I made 60 miniature Scrubcloths to be sent out in a box of samples. Several vendors get together and send their samples to a central person who assembles them into boxes filled w/ random samples, and these sample boxes get purchased. The boxes that I'll be a part of will go on sale the middle of this month. I'm going to try to participate in this box again in April, so a due date to get 60 more samples done is March 15 or so, so I have enough time to mail them off. This is another one for as-time-allows.
I've also been planning on March to be when I introduce tie-dyed diapers into my store, so I need to snatch two days in a row to do the dyeing (one for dyeing and one for washing the excess dye away). I have March 15 as a due date on this one also.
Then in April, I am going to be part of a "conglomerate" ("congo" for short) that has a rotating membership. Each week of April I'll be stocking one or two girly clothing items. The due date on making these items is April 1.
Finally, at the end of April, I may be able to participate in a bazaar at the Regional Sweet Adeline's competition. I've been to this bazaar before, but as a shopper. I'm still working out whether I want to participate and exactly HOW I want to participate (like just taking samples to the bazaar and having people order them, or making up an inventory, or a partial inventory and letting people buy those and then ordering other items, etc.)
Phew, what a LIST! It would seem that I have enough time to do all this, but I'm also still in a "peak" transcription month, so that eats up a lot of time that I could be crocheting or crafting. But, since it's all written down with each of their individual deadlines, I should be able to get it all done. :)
Since I'm still in the first year of my store, a lot of what I'm doing is marketing-related. I need to get my name out there and get some word of mouth referrals started. But meanwhile I also have a few non-store crafts, the first of which is a set of Valentine's washcloths. At church, there is a whole pew of widows, and some of us are getting together to make them some Valentine's gift bags. I'm making a dozen washcloths. They are my first attempt at tunisian crochet, and I'm making a heart design right into the stitch pattern. I am finished with the tunisian part on all 12 of them, and now will just have to border them. I should be able to finish these by tomorrow night and give them back to the girl who's assembling the baskets.
Then next on the list is a green scrubby w/ a rainbow border for my mom. I made her a Scrubcloth over the holidays, and she wanted a scrubby by itself as well. I made her a purple one already but during a recent phone conversation, she said that she wanted two. So this green one will be her second one. I haven't mailed the first one yet b/c I'm also still waiting on something to send to my dad. There's no real "due" date on this one, but it'll just take half an hour so I'm going to squeeze it in as time allows.
After that, I am going to make some Easter-themed play food. The site that my store is hosted at has a TON of stores, and several vendors are getting together to make a couple of gender-neutral, one-size-fits-all Easter baskets to auction off. I'm very excited about this project. The due date is March 1, when I will need to send the items off to the person who will assemble the basket.
Also for Easter, for my own store, I want to stock several little beaded headbands. I may just skip that whole project, though, depending on if time allows. But the due date on that one, if I do it, is also March 1.
Last month, I made 60 miniature Scrubcloths to be sent out in a box of samples. Several vendors get together and send their samples to a central person who assembles them into boxes filled w/ random samples, and these sample boxes get purchased. The boxes that I'll be a part of will go on sale the middle of this month. I'm going to try to participate in this box again in April, so a due date to get 60 more samples done is March 15 or so, so I have enough time to mail them off. This is another one for as-time-allows.
I've also been planning on March to be when I introduce tie-dyed diapers into my store, so I need to snatch two days in a row to do the dyeing (one for dyeing and one for washing the excess dye away). I have March 15 as a due date on this one also.
Then in April, I am going to be part of a "conglomerate" ("congo" for short) that has a rotating membership. Each week of April I'll be stocking one or two girly clothing items. The due date on making these items is April 1.
Finally, at the end of April, I may be able to participate in a bazaar at the Regional Sweet Adeline's competition. I've been to this bazaar before, but as a shopper. I'm still working out whether I want to participate and exactly HOW I want to participate (like just taking samples to the bazaar and having people order them, or making up an inventory, or a partial inventory and letting people buy those and then ordering other items, etc.)
Phew, what a LIST! It would seem that I have enough time to do all this, but I'm also still in a "peak" transcription month, so that eats up a lot of time that I could be crocheting or crafting. But, since it's all written down with each of their individual deadlines, I should be able to get it all done. :)
Saturday, January 26, 2008
happy in the morning
It's been quite a while since I've uploaded a video, so here's one that I took this morning. More often than not, Lydia wakes up happy in the morning, and I will hear her "talking" to herself.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
walking before standing?
Remember back when I posted about how Lydia learned to crawl before she learned how to sit by herself? Like how she did that out of order? Well, I am thinking that she may similarly walk before she stands. I have witnessed her standing alone, but it's been so brief and unintended and infrequent on her part that I'm not "counting" it. She has been walking along furniture for a while and is getting faster at that. And over the past couple of days, DH has been "teaching" her to walk by holding her hands and walking with her. She can walk like that if we hold both her hands. But as soon as we let go, it's down onto her bottom. Even so, there's small bits of time when we're helping her walk that it feels like she's not really putting a lot of weight on our hands.
Monday, January 14, 2008
a picture of the play food
Yay, my first batch of play food is "cooked" and ready for sale! Definitely go check out my store for more pictures of the individual items, but I wanted to share the picture of all the items I've made so far:
Doesn't it look delicious? I'm very pleased with the way it's all looking so far, and VERY excited about the plans I have for the next few foods that will be coming out. :) (I still have yet to develop those patterns, though... I'll be working on that this week.)
The other two of Lydia's top teeth are breaking the gums, so by the time the weekend is here, all 4 of them should be well on their way to arriving. And she's learned how to wave pretty much on request now. I'll say "hi" and she'll wave at me and jabber. And then sometimes she'll wave just b/c she feels like it. lol. Like today in the store, she was on my back and her arms were pretty contained. At one point, though, she wiggled around and worked one of her arms free and was happily waving "hi" with it for a bit, then she wiggled it back down to where it was supposed to go. All I could do was smile. :)
Doesn't it look delicious? I'm very pleased with the way it's all looking so far, and VERY excited about the plans I have for the next few foods that will be coming out. :) (I still have yet to develop those patterns, though... I'll be working on that this week.)
The other two of Lydia's top teeth are breaking the gums, so by the time the weekend is here, all 4 of them should be well on their way to arriving. And she's learned how to wave pretty much on request now. I'll say "hi" and she'll wave at me and jabber. And then sometimes she'll wave just b/c she feels like it. lol. Like today in the store, she was on my back and her arms were pretty contained. At one point, though, she wiggled around and worked one of her arms free and was happily waving "hi" with it for a bit, then she wiggled it back down to where it was supposed to go. All I could do was smile. :)
Saturday, January 12, 2008
i guess she's been teething for months
My poor baby. Today she was quite suddenly in a good mood. That in itself isn't really unusual, but what was unusual was the "degree" of her good mood. She was laughing SO much today, and at the most random things. Like I had her on one arm, and with the other arm I was stacking up cloth diapers. I got to about the third diaper and heard her laugh. Then this morning she was VERY gleefully banging together two of her balls and laughing at how they made a click when they connected.
But just now, I was changing her diaper, and thought I'd give her mouth a peek. Her poor gums have been looking "toothy" lately, and seem to have been looking like that for a long time, so I wasn't sure if she was really teething or not. But today, I can see the telltale little "hole" in her gums, and can feel the teeth starting to poke through. I think she is going to get all 4 of her top middle teeth at once. The teeth that I can feel are one of the middle ones and then the one on the side of her mouth right next to it.
When I went home for the holidays, my sister kept teasing me and saying that my baby was "broken" because she didn't laugh like her baby did. (Lydia's cousin is 6 months older than she is.) Lydia was in a good mood for the whole trip and played and was happy and would smile, but she would rarely laugh. I kept telling everyone that even at home she would hardly laugh even for me. But today, she laughed several times.
I think the teeth are to blame. She must have been hurting. Not enough to make her overly fussy, but just enough chronic soreness to make her not all that happy about the situation. This would definitely explain her lack of laughter. I knew that she COULD laugh since I'd witnessed it many months ago, and even in her soreness there were a few little things that would sometimes get her to give a little giggle. But I imagine that I wouldn't really want to laugh all that much either if my mouth hurt all the time. I hope those other two teeth pop though soon. I really love this "new" giggly girl I have now.
But just now, I was changing her diaper, and thought I'd give her mouth a peek. Her poor gums have been looking "toothy" lately, and seem to have been looking like that for a long time, so I wasn't sure if she was really teething or not. But today, I can see the telltale little "hole" in her gums, and can feel the teeth starting to poke through. I think she is going to get all 4 of her top middle teeth at once. The teeth that I can feel are one of the middle ones and then the one on the side of her mouth right next to it.
When I went home for the holidays, my sister kept teasing me and saying that my baby was "broken" because she didn't laugh like her baby did. (Lydia's cousin is 6 months older than she is.) Lydia was in a good mood for the whole trip and played and was happy and would smile, but she would rarely laugh. I kept telling everyone that even at home she would hardly laugh even for me. But today, she laughed several times.
I think the teeth are to blame. She must have been hurting. Not enough to make her overly fussy, but just enough chronic soreness to make her not all that happy about the situation. This would definitely explain her lack of laughter. I knew that she COULD laugh since I'd witnessed it many months ago, and even in her soreness there were a few little things that would sometimes get her to give a little giggle. But I imagine that I wouldn't really want to laugh all that much either if my mouth hurt all the time. I hope those other two teeth pop though soon. I really love this "new" giggly girl I have now.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
a poser and food to play with
I was looking through prior entries, and realized that it had been a while since I put in a picture of Lydia. So here are a couple from this morning for your enjoyment. In the first one, it looks like she is "posing" for the camera. Then the other one is just plain silly. :P
In other news, I have managed to start making some play food to sell in my store. I've made a sandwich (with meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato and pickle), some cheesy chips (like cheetos), some chocolate sandwich cookies, and a carrot. I'm hoping to branch out my product offering in the next week or so. I have all these totally cool ideas floating around in my head of foods to make and how to make them look like what they're supposed to. I'm very excited. :) My favorite so far are the sandwich cookies and the tomato slice. :D
In other news, I have managed to start making some play food to sell in my store. I've made a sandwich (with meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato and pickle), some cheesy chips (like cheetos), some chocolate sandwich cookies, and a carrot. I'm hoping to branch out my product offering in the next week or so. I have all these totally cool ideas floating around in my head of foods to make and how to make them look like what they're supposed to. I'm very excited. :) My favorite so far are the sandwich cookies and the tomato slice. :D
Thursday, January 3, 2008
i can see my carpet again
Wow, I feel so good now. I worked this past week on decluttering, and the apartment looks drastically different in areas. I feel like I can have some people over again now. :) And, I can now work on my crafts again with a clear conscience, since all of those supplies are organized as well.
Here's some before and after pictures. I'll start with the less dramatic and move on from there. In each "pair" of pictures, the "before" picture is first. (It's not as obvious on some of them.) First, the kitchen. I don't have a lot of space, but the space I DO have has definitely improved:
Then the living room. I didn't get rid of her toys. Just off the camera to the left are two crates that had been there already, but now they are a little more organized and I can actually put her toys IN them instead of on top of them. lol. Also note the changes to the mantle.
The first bedroom picture isn't all that dramatic, but now I can see the top of my dresser again. Please excuse the empty photo frame. lol. I scooted the chest of drawers over a little bit to make room for the bookshelf, thus freeing up a lot of floor space.
And the most dramatic transformation of all was the dining room. Now I feel like I can actually have some people over now and then, and don't have to worry about them tripping over something and hurting themselves.
Here's some before and after pictures. I'll start with the less dramatic and move on from there. In each "pair" of pictures, the "before" picture is first. (It's not as obvious on some of them.) First, the kitchen. I don't have a lot of space, but the space I DO have has definitely improved:
Then the living room. I didn't get rid of her toys. Just off the camera to the left are two crates that had been there already, but now they are a little more organized and I can actually put her toys IN them instead of on top of them. lol. Also note the changes to the mantle.
The first bedroom picture isn't all that dramatic, but now I can see the top of my dresser again. Please excuse the empty photo frame. lol. I scooted the chest of drawers over a little bit to make room for the bookshelf, thus freeing up a lot of floor space.
And the most dramatic transformation of all was the dining room. Now I feel like I can actually have some people over now and then, and don't have to worry about them tripping over something and hurting themselves.
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