Wordless Wednesday

If I had a magic wand....

I decided to bring back an old favorite this week, and even if it's Wed, please feel free to join in.

The other night I was folding clothes and I was wishing I had a magic wand so I could just flick my wrist and it would be done. That got me to thinking (always a dangerous thing).

So this week's theme is "If I had a magic wand..."

The rules (there's gotta be rules):

1. You can only pick 5 things. You can use the wand for those 5 things no matter how often they occur, but only for those 5 things.

Ok, that's the only rule because I had another rule and even I couldn't stick to that.) Can you tell I'm struggling with my ADD today?)

So, anyway, here's my 5.

1. Laundry. I HATE folding laundry. I don't mind doing it or putting it away, I just hate folding it.

2. Washing dishes. Cleaning the kitchen for that matter, but mostly washing dishes. I've ALWAYS hated it, and I'm pretty sure I always will.

3. Pulling my route down. I don't really mind sorting it or delivering it, I just hate that it seems to take so long to pull it down.

4.Drying my hair. I usually don't dry it every day because, while I have really nice, thick, pretty hair, it takes forever to dry, and my arm usually falls asleep in the process. Most days I just let it dry. Who cares anyway, right? But I would really like to look a little bit more put together.

5.Putting the kids to bed. I wish it was as easy as flicking my wrist. Unfortunately lately it's been soooo difficult, and it will just get harder as the days get longer.

Now it's your turn. What would you use your magic wand for if you had one?

As always, if you don't want to blog it you can leave it in the comments.

Making Me Happy Monday!

I am finally getting a chance to participate in Making Happy Monday! Rachael started it and I've been wanting to for awhile but I just kept forgetting what has been making me happy. This week I tried to make some mental notes, we'll see if they stuck.

1. First and foremost- I'm so happy that it was just a computer malfunction and I still have my job.

2. Mail count is OVER! No more waiting for someone to count my mail, and no more being followed by a stopwatch!

3. My sewing machine is getting fixed. And, I'm really happy that I got my old machine back just before the new one had to go in, because I can still do some sewing!

4. I have gotten a lot of sewing done the past week, and I'm impressing myself with the quality of work, despite the old machine.

5. My kids have been really pretty good lately. Today Hunter told me, "Mom, Rylie's my best friend." How cute is that?

6. I cleaned out Hunter's room last week, and took a whole car load of toys and junk to Goodwill. He now looks like the most deprived child in the neighborhood. But his room is clean.

7. A friend gave us a twin bed for Hunter. He had our old queen bed and it took up the entire room, so now he's got extra storage, and more space to play!

8. I took the old bed to Goodwill! Makes me very happy to get rid of it right away, and for free. Plus it's nice to know we gave it to a worthy cause because it was really in decent shape.

9. My hubby has finally come around when it comes to watching movies. He used to give a movie about 5 minutes and if it didn't grab his attention he would leave. Now he'll stick it out to see if it turns out good.

Career Flash

I've never been fired before.

I have had exactly 4 jobs in my entire life. I've been working since I was 15. Nonstop.

Each and every one of those jobs included working on Saturday, so I guess that makes 15 years of working on Saturdays.

This Saturday was the day it happened. My career at the Post Office flashed before my eyes. All 11 years I think. Something so simple and yet so important.

The supervisor called me to the desk. She said "This sheet says you missed an Express mail scan yesterday."

Me:" I don't remember having an express. Oh, yeah I did. It was a signature waiver so I signed it and left it in the box. I didn't scan that?! Holy crap!! I can't miss an Express! I missed one in October for the first time in 11 years! I've got a letter in my file! They'll fire me for this!" And that's when the flash started.

Every day is the same...but different. 3000+ pieces of mail to sort. 500+ customers to remember. 20-50 packages. 4-10 certified letters, express mail and various signature items.

Turns out I did scan the express, and it was delivered on time. The scanner didn't download into the computer the night before.




Don't forget to enter my giveaway over at Krystyn's blog. Ends Wed.

The giveaway is up!

If you want a chance to win a custom made monogrammed caplet (size 18 month), or a lovey for a baby boy, go on over to Krystyn's blog and enter in her giveaway.

I think I was sleep blogging...and..I need some help.....

Wow, that last post.....how could that be called random? It was intended to be random. I guess I had pretty much one thing on my mind.

After that post I got to work on my other blog. I opened up an etsy site back in Dec. but I haven't really been able to devote too much time to the listings. Plus it just doesn't have the personality I wish it did. After awhile I decided to just set up a blog to say more with my descriptions. I've been pretty lazy with that too, but today I saw something that made me check on paypal to see if I could set up a shopping cart on my blog. It was really easy and I gave myself a blog makeover and turned it into a store. So I have 2 stores now. Lots of people have bought things before on Etsy, but I know a lot of people who are turned off by the prospect of having to sign up for another new username and password (even if it's just the thought of it and it's not really required). In the age of eBay who doesn't have a paypal account?

So I've spent way too much time on that blog today. I'm happy that it seems to be coming together, but I could use some help. Please visit over there and leave me some feedback. If you don't want to leave it in the comments, feel free to e-mail me at the address listed on the top of the page.

Some specific things I'm wondering about are:
Do you think the pictures adequately show the item listed?
Do I need to take better pictures?
Are my descriptions too long, or am I leaving out important details?
Is my shopping cart easy to understand? (you can put things in without buying)
Is there anything else you'd like to see or not see?
Since you have the choice, which place would you more likely order from, blog or Etsy store?

Thank you in advance for taking the time to help me out. I'm not trying to get you to order anything, I'm just looking for the feedback. Thanks again!

It's a random world....

...when you have so many things going on it's hard to focus on one thing to talk about. So here goes. (formatting is NOT working for me at this point, so forgive me however this turns out).

Life has been pretty busy around here, as usual. This week I finally got my sewing area organized and I am LOVING it. It's still in the corner of the kitchen and I'm still using the kitchen table for sewing, but just having the basic things I need to have out organized is helping me get back to where I like sitting there. I guess I just have a personality that hates clutter and I do my best to avoid it.

Seth has been making some towels for people at work. He came up with a design and everyone loves it. He's still a very manly man ladies. He still likes woodworking and things like that. How many couples out there have similar intrests like we do. He's taught me to use his tools in the garage so I guess we're even. Sort of. I could never make something with wood as beautiful as the cedar chests he's made.

I have been getting a slow and steady list of things to make. This week I made a set of monogrammed bath towels for a wedding gift. They turned out really nice. I also went shopping for fabric with my MIL. I'm making a blanket for her and a bag as well.

I have been working on things for my giveaway that Krystyn is hosting. She hasn't gotten it going yet, but I will let you know when it's up. I made her daughter a caplet with her name on it, and I also sent her one of these fancy monogrammed burp cloth's I make.

I also had a request for a blanket this week. It turned out so well. Unfortunately, I think my machine is needing a rest. The little piece that winds the bobbin is broken. They sell a bobbin winder at Wal-mart, but it won't work for the bobbins for my machine. I'm going to have to send it off to get fixed which is a bummer. I do have my old sewing machine as a back up. It works ok. I have had to use it a couple of times this week and I realize just how spoiled I've been with my "new" machine. I had to use the old one to finish the blanket the other night. It still turned out really nice. It was for a little girl turning one, her name is Maiah.

When I first started thinking of doing this as a business I was a little apprehensive. I've tried things before that didn't really work so well. Things like making my wooden books, selling scrapbooking and stamping supplies, and I'm still a consultant for Mary Kay. I think one of the main reasons for that is because I was broke back then (and with Mary Kay I'm just not willing to have tons of inventory sitting around in my closet for years). I really didn't have the money to be spending on the things I had to buy to get the business's going, and therefore I just had too much pressure to do well. This time it seems like I am just focusing on one thing at a time, and I don't feel like I have to "sell" anything. I have been buying fabric and things as I make money, and I'm perfectly happy to make things as gifts. If I was broke right now I probably wouldn't be quite as willing to just give my things away.

There are also a few things I learned from listening to Dave Ramsey talk about how his company grew from nothing. Starting small and growing steady was really the way he did it. I truly believe that he's one of the smartest people on the planet. Who else can file for bankruptcy and become a millionaire a few short years later without borrowing a penny for his business?