Approaching the end of 2022!

I can't believe the year is almost over. Time just goes by so fast! 

We had a nice, relaxing Christmas. Our original plan was to have our annual Christmas Celebration at my sister's house on Christmas Eve...but she was sick so it was postponed a little bit. Christmas Day we went to my grandparents' house here in town like we always do for chatting, dinner, desserts, and presents. It was the first time we've been able to go since 2020. Before that...we've gone to my grandparents' house for Christmas day every year since I was a child. We used to celebrate Christmas Eve at my dad's side of the family with all my aunts, uncles, cousins, etc...but when my Grandma died in 2020, that was no longer carried on. It's just not the same without her. :( 

Ashlyn finished all her classes for the semester which means she's officially done with high school! She'll still be able to go to Prom and then will still walk at graduation at the end of the school year with her classmates...she just doesn't have to go to class anymore. She turned 18 in September, but I told her that she wasn't allowed to move out until after she was done with her classes. She has wanted to move back to our hometown and live at XH's parents' house (where Aubry had been living since she graduated in 2020). Ashlyn has been excited so she started packing about a month ago. She moved some of the boxes she already had packed the Friday before her last couple days of school. Then she wanted to move the rest on Tuesday--her last day at school--but she wasn't anywhere near ready to go. She had a ton of packing and cleaning left to do. Then Wednesday, she'd gotten more done but still wasn't finished...and then the weather got bad so it didn't really matter anyway. She finally finished cleaning and packing on Friday and was able to move out the rest of her stuff. Aubry was excited...because she's been really anxious to move back here. 

Truth be told, I was looking forward to an empty nest after 10 years of people coming in and out of our house. But...I did have Aubry sign a lease agreement so that everyone knows up front what to expect. In an ideal world, that wouldn't be necessary. But we've found that adult children can often take advantage and not be respectful of others in the house (or property) and it's far easier to establish ground rules up front including how much they are expected to contribute toward expenses. And when it's in writing...no one can "forget" what the terms are. Aubry understood and had no problem with the lease agreement at all. Everything seems to be working out fine so far. She starts her new job next month and is planning to save up for a newer car and her own place. 

The dogs are doing well. :) With Aubry moving in...she brought her chihuahua, Linken, back with her. He's a little more vocal than Ashlyn's chihuahua, Neko. But he's starting to warm up to Bozley and NovaLee. It would be easier if Boz and Nova would calm down more...they tend to get pretty excited. They're fine by themselves...but they seem to rile each other up. It's the same way with the cats...by themselves, they're calm with the cats but together they end up chasing them back downstairs. We've been trying to work with them, but it's apparently a slow process. :P We need to get them to the groomer again too. It's been, like, a year since they've been to the groomer. :P They never need full-on haircuts, but a good bath and trimming their paws and everything is overdue. Johnny gives them baths once or twice a month depending on how dirty they get outside, but they always look and smell so good after the groomer. :) 

I've been busy with CandiMaker stuff...as always! Luckily I love what I do. :) I'm trying to finish preparing for the grand opening of CandiMakerStickers. I'm SUPER excited about this Etsy shop. I keep adding new products which makes me even more excited. :) I'll have die-cut stickers, sticker sheets, planner stickers including weekly kits, laminated and magnetic bookmarks, laminated planner covers and page markers, and planner dividers for classic-size 9-disc planners (to fit Happy Planner brand pages). I may branch out to different sizes and different types of binding in the future, but we'll see how this works out and go from there. I'm still maintaining my two current Etsy shops as well. My goal for 2023 is to really work hard on all my Etsy shops to make them as successful as possible. :) 

I hope everyone has a very happy new year! :) 

Already December again!

The years just seem to go by so fast. I think it's interesting how...when you're stuck in a miserable life, it seems to go by so slow. Like during my first marriage...the days were long, the years were long...it was just miserable. I think it's because you think about how much you want out...and so you're just waiting for it to be over. You're looking forward...hoping that what comes next will be better. So you're waiting for it to end and it feels like it's too far away. But then once you get to the point where you're happy and content with your life...you don't want that to end. So as time goes by, it feels like the end is coming faster than you want it to. I've never been this content with my life before...so I hope it lasts for a very long time! :) 

We had a nice, relaxing Thanksgiving. I made dinner here at home. Ashlyn decided to spend Thanksgiving with her dad and his side of the family, but Aubry came over and had dinner with us. She took some turkey over to my parents' house, too. And my favorite part...leftovers for a few days! I love a break from figuring out what to have for dinner every night. :P I don't mind making dinner...it's just trying to decide what to make that's annoying. :P

I've been working on a lot of behind-the-scenes CandiMaker stuff. I've been redoing my pricing at CandiMakerTransfers in order to start offering First Class packages with Priority Mail upgrades instead of just Priority Mail. I ordered some rigid mailers in three different sizes and they arrived yesterday...so I reorganized everything to fit the new mailers in my shipping armoire. I'm also working on getting everything ready to start selling stickers...descriptions, pricing, materials, product packaging, etc. In addition to stickers, I am also creating laminated and magnetic bookmarks. :) I want to have quite a few products available when I open, so I probably won't have my grand opening until after the first of the new year. 

I also finished rearranging and reorganizing my office. I've really tried to make the most of the space. Once of these days I would love to build my own desk/storage system, but I'm pleased with how it has turned out so far with the furniture we already had. The only furniture I purchased was a rolling cart to hold my heat press and toaster oven. I was able to find it at Walmart.com for less than $40. So far it's working out great. I also found some nice, cheap white curtains. I wanted some natural light into the room so it took awhile to find some plain white curtains that weren't blackout curtains but weren't sheer. I was planning to get shorter curtains, but our Walmart didn't have these curtains in 63" length so I got the 84" panels. The only things right now that I haven't gotten yet is an LED light for inside the armoire and I still haven't figured out a better method for storing my sublimation paper yet. But I did take pictures of how the office looks so far. :) 

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And on that note...I'm going to get back to work! :) 

I'm still alive!

I just realized that I didn't post again after my last post on September 1st! I've just been super busy lately. 

I've been doing a lot of editing and ordering photos...the 4 generation family photos we had and then the prints of the girls' senior pictures. I waited to order Aubry's until we had Ashlyn's...so I could order the same number of similar poses and sizes. I like to have a balance for when I hang them up. Now I just have to decide where to hang them up and get some frames for them.  

I've also been pretty busy lately working on CandiMaker stuff. I separated my digital designs and my transfers into two separate shops in October. I also revamped my logo to be more representative of my style...and then redid my shop banners to match. I also added important information to the banners (like how to get free shipping, etc.) so it can be seen easily. I created a few new designs...but have been too busy with other things to create more. I need to press a few of my designs so that I can have example photos of how beautifully my transfers appear on finished products. 

I spent all of last weekend rearranging and reorganizing my office. I had to change everything around in order to have room for my new printer! I already have the ET-16650 that I use for sublimation and kept the unused ink that originally came with the printer. So I've been wanting to get another Epson EcoTank printer that takes the same pigment ink. I found a great deal on an ET-5800 in Epson's own Ebay store that was refurbished directly by Epson. It came with a 1-year warranty plus two more full sets of ink. I'll be using the new printer mainly for my third Etsy shop...CandiMaker Stickers! I'm still hammering out all the details and working out what other materials I need as well as packaging, shipping, listing details, etc...so it'll still be a little while before my sticker shop goes live. Right now I'm still using our Epson WF-2650 for printing my mailing labels...but eventually I hope to get a thermal printer so I can print mailing labels and other packaging stickers without using any ink. :) 

But back to my office...I'm really pleased with how it's coming along. I moved my big desk over to be in the corner of the room. Then the smaller desk now sits perpendicular to basically make an L-shaped desk. Both printers fit perfectly on the smaller desk. Then the drawers of that desk have labeled boxes for my pigment and sublimation ink bottles and shipping supplies. I left the small desk a little more than a foot away from the wall so that my tall set of drawers fit in between (with another smaller set of drawers on top of that). The drawers store all my different types of paper, printable vinyl, mailing labels, laminating sheets, etc. Then the WF-2650 sits on top of those drawers. Across from the printers I have the large armoire against the wall in the corner. I've changed that into my packaging center. I already had all my Priority Mail boxes and envelopes in the lower cabinet. Now in the upper cabinet I have the guillotine paper cutter and a rotating organizer for regular envelopes, thank you cards, etc. I used command strips to put up two organizer things (which are actually to stick up in lockers to hold pencils and stuff) to hold my freebie/sample sublimation transfer prints as well as a hook to hang a pair of scissors. So now I can just print the labels and fill the packages all right there in one spot. Then I moved my Cricut Maker 3 (which used to be in the armoire) to the other side of the room. I had some modular drawers that have been in the girls' rooms which I stacked and put together back-to-back with a heavy piece of poster board on top to make a table for my Cricut. So now I have a ton of storage with all the drawers. On one side I have all my sublimation supplies and blanks then on the other side I have my planner and sticker supplies...plus my Cricut supplies. 

Now that I have other places to store a lot of the things that were originally stuffed in my desk...I need to figure out what all I'm going to store there instead. It will probably end up being my planners, writing stuff, and some of my art supplies. I already have some separate little drawers that I moved to my desktop...and I organized all my pens and pencils in those. I have SO many pens and pencils. LOL. I also organized all my clips into drawer organizers...I had a lot of those too. 

So other than finishing up my desk...there are just a few things I have left to finish my office. I am looking for a nice, sturdy rolling utility cart that I can use for my heat press and the toaster oven. I need something mobile so that I can store it in front of the closet and then roll it out of the way when I need to get into the closet or to move away from everything else so it isn't a fire hazard while I'm actually using it. So I've been looking at different types of shelves/workbenches that can hold enough weight, don't have cheap wheels, and are a good size for the space. I also need to get some LED lights to hang up inside the armoire and some white curtains. The teal green curtains that are in there cast a green tint into the room so I want to get some white curtains to fix that. Oh and I also want to get/make a 2-tier shelf to put in the small top shelf in the armoire where I can separate the difference sizes of sublimation paper I have. Right now I just have them in their boxes stacked on that shelf. But that's really all I need for now. I really love how it's coming together. 

The office is really "my" space where I can put my stuff that I don't otherwise have a good spot for. I still have the hutch shelf (it goes with the small desk but it's detachable) holding all of my art books, cookbooks, yearbooks, etc. And on top of the hutch I have all of our wedding décor items. Our jewel-tone wedding colors don't really match the color palette we have going on in the rest of the house. :P Plus with it in my office (which usually has the door closed), the cats don't climb up there and mess with anything. Since a lot of our wedding décor is breakable...I don't need the cats pushing it off the shelf. :P I also have two shelves (one is a skinny bookcase and the other is actually a small, swivel DVD stand) where I have my current selection of books. They fit perfectly behind the bi-fold closet door when opened...and makes use of some space that would otherwise not be used. Most of the books on there are the ones I picked out from my grandma's collection after she died. She was very well-known for her love of books. She also loaned them out a lot...so I just picked books that I would enjoy reading and that she had written her name in. 

Once I get the office completely put together, I'll take pictures of how everything looks. I'm really excited about it. :) 

I still have two more Etsy shops that I plan to open...but I probably won't focus on them much until next year. I want to get my sticker shop all set up and running...plus keep working on my first two shops. But I'm very excited for the future of CandiMaker! Especially now that I'll have more time...since I'm no longer doing transcription. I called them out in October for treating their independent contractors like employees under their control...then earlier this month we reached a settlement agreement. So I've decided to focus on CandiMaker full-time now. And with the settlement I was able to get my printer and a new tablet that I'll use for drawing designs...as well as a few other supplies that I've needed. 

Anyway...just thought I'd give an update since it's been so long. I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving! :) 

Still so busy!

August is over and this is the first time I've come back to post again. I've still been super busy...mostly working on editing photos. I'm almost finished with the first batch...I'm just cleaning up some edges a little bit. This is largely why I stopped doing photography professionally...because I'm way too much of a perfectionist and I have a hard time just leaving them alone and saying they're good enough. And especially with these photos...I didn't actually take these pictures. A wonderful photographer who has been taking the girls' pictures since Aubry was just a few months old took them. So I really want them to look good. Really it's just the marks on the white floor that are the most time consuming part. I want it all to look natural and smooth. I'm getting there...it's just taking awhile. The later pictures in the batch are all right...but in the beginning I wasn't doing as much so I'm going back to clean those up more now. Total there are 155 pictures...but luckily not all of them are on the white background. 

But...Johnny and I did take some time for ourselves on our anniversary! Our anniversary also happened to fall on National Fajita Day...so Johnny and I cooked fajitas together for dinner, cuddled up with the pups and watched some documentaries on Netflix. We always enjoy our Netflix and chill time. :) I'd much rather spend time curled up at home together than going out. I love our quality time together. My favorite part of the day is when we sit down to eat dinner and either catch up on our shows, watch a new documentary or stand-up comedian on Netflix...or if it's a weekend we'll watch a longer movie together. 

Ashlyn is doing well in school so far this year. If she passes all her classes this semester, she doesn't have to attend class next semester...so she's been working hard to keep her grades up. It's still hard to believe that she's already a senior! We're getting her senior pictures taken in October (the same photographer that I'm editing photos from now). We'll have to order her graduation invitations, tassel, and some 2023 clothes and accessories like we got for her sister in 2020. 

Speaking of...Aubry is doing well at WSU Tech. As of last week she was still getting all As in her classes. She's passed most of the online coursework and then she will have the lab work to do. She is really enjoying her college experience. Of course, she's also really looking forward to the job--and paycheck--that she'll be getting after she finishes the program. ;) 

Other than that, I've also been keeping busy with CandiMaker stuff. I started selling sublimation ready-to-press transfers in addition to sublimation designs. I haven't had as much time as I'd like to create new designs...but hopefully things will calm down and I'll have more time to devote to it. :) 

Happy Anniversary to us!

Johnny and I just celebrated 10 years together and 5 years of marriage. :) 

Ten years seems like a long time...but it doesn't feel like a long time. I mean...we've experienced so much together and we've shared so many moments over the years...but it just seems like the time has gone by so fast. 

I love our relationship though. It just comes so easily. I know you generally have to work to make a relationship work...but I feel like we've put in that work and now it just feels effortless. 

Had Johnny and I stayed together the first time we dated, we actually would have celebrated 17 years together this year. But...so much happened in our lives in those seven years we were apart. I think we both grew and became the people who could make such a successful life together now. I've always believed that everything happens for a reason...and I think that's especially true of all the things that had to happen for us to end up working at the same place at the same time, meet and fall in love, fall apart and then come back together...to end up happily ever after. 

We've both had very volatile relationships in the past. Speaking for myself, I know that I have had a history of being VERY stubborn, saying everything I think (often complaints or criticism), and honestly just focused on a lot of the wrong things. But...I was with guys who were the very same way. Like with XH...both of us were very stubborn, fought constantly, and always focused on what the other person was or wasn't doing...and the way we wanted things to be. It was never a partnership where we worked together. There was a lot of, "well if you're not going to do X then I'm not going to do Z." There was too much resentment and no appreciation from either of us. 

Even in the 6-year relationship I had right before Johnny and I got back together...it was a very different kind of relationship. The first four months of the relationship we were truly dating...but after that it was far more of a long-term "friends with benefits" arrangement than an *actually* relationship. We enjoyed each other's company and I stayed at his house when my kids were with their dad...but I had my own place and we weren't planning any sort of exclusive future together. So it became a situation where...if one of us got pissed off, I just went home. We'd either get over it...or not. It was pretty inconsequential. Don't get me wrong...we loved each other and care about each other very much...but it was in a much different way. I just understood him more than most people and I let him be who he is without trying to change him...and he appreciated that. But we were still two very strong-willed and mouthy personalities who clashed often.  

But things are totally different with Johnny. I'm definitely not as stubborn, I've learned that silence really is golden, and we focus on appreciating each other instead of criticizing each other. Johnny and I are just *nice* to each other. We say nice things and even use cutesy pet names. We say please and thank you. We say "I love you" every time one of us leaves...whether it's just leaving the room or leaving the house. We also do nice things for each other...even when it's just little things like making a favorite snack or doing a chore around the house so the other doesn't have to. That's not to say everything is perfect 100% of the time. We're human and sometimes we get annoyed or cranky or just have a bad day...but those moments are few and far between. Johnny and I are also a lot alike in a lot of ways...from our thoughts on religion and politics to the things we like to see and do. 

But even the things that are different about us...we still complement each other in a way that works so well. For example, Johnny is good cop and I'm bad cop. I have no problem telling the kids no...while he's usually the "nicer" one who is more lenient. We're like that in so many ways. 

Ultimately we're in it together, forever. I really enjoy our life together. :) 

Here's to 10 years...and a lifetime of many more! :) 

August already?!

I can't believe school starts this week! It's hard to believe that Ashlyn will be a SENIOR this year! She met with her guidance counselor last week to make some adjustments to her schedule. She actually only has to go to her classes during first semester to graduate (as long as she passes all of her classes). She'll still be able to go to prom and graduate in May with her class...she just won't have to attend classes during the spring semester. Hopefully she will have a great senior year! 

Aubry started her first day of college yesterday! I talked to her off and on throughout the day and it was nice to hear her enjoying it so much. Despite Johnny and I telling her that it's so much different than high school, I think she thought we were just telling her that to try to convince her to go...but she found out that it actually *is* different than high school. ;) She liked the instructors and the fact that the courses she's taking are hybrid...meaning partially online as well as in-person coursework. The sheet metal program she is taking is just one semester long and she'll earn a technical certificate that she can use to get a job in that field. :) I'm so proud of her for taking this step and I'm so glad that she's excited about it and enjoying the experience so far. 

I've still been working on editing photos. I just have two photos left to finish the first "batch" of pictures my mom is going to order. I've also been focusing a lot on my Etsy shop. I have a set of school designs that I finished and uploaded to my store. I added them later than planned but I'm pleased with how they turned out. And they're not specifically "first day of school" designs so that helps a bit. I also decided to create a bundle for these designs since there are 9 similar designs all together. Since Etsy limits the number of files and the size of the files that can be uploaded, I am actually utilizing Google Drive for the bundle. I still have so many ideas I want to make happen for CandiMaker and I'm excited for the future of my little business. :) After I finish this batch of photos, I'm going to spend some time really focusing on my Etsy shop for a week or two and then get back to editing more pictures. There's a lot of pictures to get through! 

In other news...we had to take Bozley to the vet on Friday. Thursday morning he didn't eat much of his breakfast and he didn't want to eat any of his dinner at all. He's a horribly picky eater...and sometimes he's less inclined to eat than others. But he kept eating grass and throwing it up. He was still drinking water and urinating fine so I just watched him overnight. Friday morning was much the same. We got some ground turkey, turkey breast, pasta, and pumpkin...and he didn't want any of that either. He wasn't even interested in his favorite duck treats...which is when I decided to take him to the vet. At first they thought he might have an obstruction...but 4 different vets pressing on his belly and looking at the x-ray...and they couldn't definitively say if it was really an obstruction or not. They wanted to keep him overnight but not only is it expensive, but I don't like our pets staying overnight at the vet unless absolutely necessary. They aren't staffed overnight plus Bozley has anxiety so much as it is...I wouldn't want his stress to cause even more/other issues. So I asked the vet if there was anything that we could do at home for him. He suggested omeprazole and keeping him hydrated. He kinda moped around throughout the evening. The pups were laying on the couch with Johnny and I while we were watching movies. Johnny went to bed and I stayed up a little longer to work. I grabbed the container with the cooked ground turkey to see if Bozley would eat anything...and he snatched a piece right out of my hand! I got him a bowl of turkey, pasta, and some pumpkin and he ate it all! He didn't throw up anymore after taking the omeprazole, either. And that night before we went to bed he finally had a bowel movement...so we were happy about that as well. Luckily, it seems that Bozley was just constipated instead of obstructed. We fed him the easily-digestible ground turkey, pasta, and pumpkin through the weekend and yesterday we started gradually adding his regular food in as well. Now he's all back to normal. :) 

I really like our animal hospital here in town. There are multiple vets that work in the office and most of them are really great. I do have a favorite, though. He goes by Dr. Q and he's always so great with the animals. He's seen our dogs as well as our cats and he is always caring and knowledgeable. We saw him on Friday and he said that he was going to be worried about Bozley and he wanted me to call back on Saturday to let him know how Bozley is doing. And then Dr. Q even called me yesterday to ask how Bozley was doing after the weekend. I just really appreciate such personable care. 

Well...I better get back to work! 

July is almost over?!

I can't believe July is almost over! School supply displays are back up in the store. I enrolled Ashlyn for her SENIOR year of high school a couple weeks ago. We scheduled the appointment for her senior pictures (same photographer who took Aubry's). Then...soon it will be Christmas and before we know it...Ashlyn will be graduating high school! And then...that's it! Our last kid in school! Well...through high school, anyway. 

Next week, Aubry is meeting with her advisor and attending an informational meeting for the sheet metal program that she's wanting to take. The program she originally signed up for isn't being offered anymore, but there's an 8 week program that she's looking at now. And I think Ashlyn is planning to start out at a local community college first (which is what I did) and then transfer to the same university that I went to. That's her plan so far anyway. 

This week the girls have been on vacation with XH's mom and their younger sister. Their family owns property in southern Kansas so they usually go out there every summer for fishing and enjoying the great outdoors. So Johnny and I have had the house all to ourselves. Well...with the cats and dogs. ;) 

I was working on transcription files over the weekend. Johnny still hasn't been working overtime on the weekends so I worked in the bedroom again. The adjustable Tempur-Pedic bed is SO comfortable! The dogs seem to think the bed is comfy too. ;) I took this picture when both dogs were in the bedroom. Bozley was in the lower part with his head up on the raised foot of the bed and then Nova was basically laying with her butt on my shoulder and her head on Johnny's pillows at the top. 

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Speaking of things that are hard to believe... it's already been two whole years since we brought Bozley home and a year since we brought Nova Lee home! In July 2020, we drove more than 8 hours roundtrip to pick up Bozley from a breeder we found through Facebook. And in a spur of the moment decision in July 2021, we drove about half an hour away to pick up Nova from a Facebook post by someone that -- as it turns out -- I went to high school with. I think they're definitely two of the best decisions Johnny and I have ever made in our relationship. :) Boz and Nova have brought so much joy to our home. They're both such sweet (and funny) puppies...they always keep us smiling! 

Anyway, I got my last file turned in on Monday and then I created new listings in my Etsy shop for ready-to-press printed sublimation transfers of some of my designs. I'll be adding more designs as transfers in the future as well. I really want to get back to making some more designs and working on new products for my Etsy shop, but I have to spread out my time between my Etsy shop, finishing transcription files, and editing all these photos. I think once I get the photos done it'll be a lot better. I'm already used to managing my time between CandiMaker and my transcription files, but the photo editing was an unexpected task that popped up and is taking a bit longer than planned...but it's going well. :) 

We tried a new recipe the other day...but it wasn't really my favorite. I used crescent roll dough...but I think I'll try it again with pizza dough sometime. It tasted alright I just think it could be better. So I'll make that change and we'll see how that goes. Then I'll post the recipe if we like it. :) I've been so busy lately that we haven't tried many new recipes...but this one is pretty quick and easy so I'll probably try it again soon. I was going to make roast beef salad with leftover roast that I made before that...but we ended up not actually having leftovers. :P 

Well...I better get back to editing photos! 

Busy, busy!

I've been pretty busy lately. 

I had five transcription files due last week. I've enjoyed working on transcription files over the weekends now. Johnny hasn't worked overtime on Saturdays lately so on Saturday and Sunday I've been going in the bedroom and raising the head and foot of the bed and typing in there. It's SO COMFY! :) The dogs were napping on the bed off and on while I was working. They'd go in between hanging out with me and then hanging out with Johnny in the living room. During the week Johnny is working in the bedroom so I usually work on transcription files in the living room on my rolling laptop desk that I bought last year. 

I also worked a little bit in my office this weekend. I finally moved the garage sale bins out of the office and got them taped up and stored away. I also moved some of the drawer organizers that I previously had in Aubry's room that I need to find a place for in my office. I haven't yet decided where they're going to go or what I'm going to put in them...but I'll definitely think of something. :) I love organization! 

After I get this first batch of photos edited, I'm going to work on my Etsy shop some more. I still haven't listed my printed transfers yet. I'm still hammering out the details. I also need to work on some new designs...and I also want to work on some planner sticker digital downloads and other printables to list in my Etsy shop as well. June and July have been pretty slow on Etsy for a lot of sellers...and I've kinda let my shop take a backseat to my other obligations at the moment and just doing a little here and there when I can. But by the end of the month, I really want to get it going full-swing again. 

Last weekend Johnny and I took the dogs over to my grandma's house for a little while. Grandma loves seeing the puppies and they enjoy playing over there. They'll explore the backyard for awhile and then they'll just relax at our feet in the house while we're chatting. Johnny replaced Grandma's garbage disposal and I changed the filter on her air purifier (she got the same one we have in our living room). Then this weekend Aubry stopped by and I helped her fill out her application and FAFSA paperwork for WSU Tech. She's interested in their sheet metal programs. So we got that all set up...which is exciting! :) We also scheduled Ashlyn's senior pictures for October. I can't believe our last baby will be a senior next year! 

 Well...gonna get back to work for a little bit before bedtime. Hope everyone has a good week! :) 

RECIPE: Grilled Chicken Sandwich

I haven't posted a new recipe in awhile! I've mostly just been making the same recipes that I already have but Johnny requested something new tonight so...here it is! I served these on Brioche buns with real mayo (Ashlyn had Miracle Whip) and you can add lettuce, pickles, or whatever toppings you like. :) Also, I made this recipe in my PowerXL Grill Air Fryer Combo but you could make it out on the grill (it's too hot outside for me...I prefer the air conditioning). ;) These tasted amazing. Even picky Ashlyn ate her entire chicken breast! She and I cut ours in half to make two sandwiches.  

PowerXL Grill Air Fryer Chicken Sandwich

Ingredients:

3 chicken breast halves, trimmed and pounded to uniform thickness

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup pickle juice

1 tbs powdered sugar

1 tsp garlic salt

1/2 tsp black pepper 

1 tbs vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Whisk together milk, pickle juice, powdered sugar, garlic salt, and black pepper in a 1 gallon freezer bag. Place chicken in bag and let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. 

2. Place the grill plate in the PowerXL. Set to grill setting at 450 degrees and let preheat for 10 minutes. Coat the grill plate with the oil so the chicken won't stick.  

3. After it has preheated, add the chicken to the grill plate. 

4. Cancel the grill function and turn the PowerXL to Air Fry at 400 degrees for 5 minutes and press start. Set to Air Fry at 400 degrees for 8 minutes and press start. Cook until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees. 

5. Remove the chicken to a plate and let it sit for 5 minutes. 

6. Make your sandwiches! :) 

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Ugh...July is HOT.

I'm pretty sure I already mentioned that I'm not a fan of the heat...but I'm really NOT a fan of the heat! :P It's been in the 90s and 100s pretty much everyday and I hate it. My health issues really hate it too. :( I could live very comfortably with mild 70s all year long! 

We didn't do much for 4th of July. It's not really my favorite holiday anyway (I'm not a fan of noise, either). :P Since the kids are older now, we don't have to shoot off fireworks which is just fine by me. IMO, it's literally setting fire to your money. :P lol. 

People tend to go crazy with fireworks in our neighborhood and the dogs were NOT very happy about it. Actually...it was more Nova than Bozley...which is unusual. Boz is typically the more fearful one but he just barks at the fireworks if he's in the house...and will look around for the fireworks and maybe come stand by me and watch if we're outside. With the little fireworks that don't make too much noise, he'll still play around in the backyard without any problem. But Nova was too terrified to even go outside to go to the bathroom at all. She would hold it all day from, like, 9am until almost 2am because she was too scared of even the small fireworks...or any noises. And around here, nearly ALL fireworks are legal and they can legally shoot them off from June 27th through July 5th...until 10pm every night except the 3rd and 4th when the deadline is midnight (not that people actually abide by that law). So it was a LONG week. And while Bozley is a mama's boy and more comfortable with me...Nova's a daddy's girl and she gets more comfort from Johnny. So she wouldn't go outside with just me and Bozley except during Johnny's lunch break we could sometimes coax her out the door since he was outside. But even then...a lot of the times she would just stay by Johnny and wouldn't go to the bathroom...and most days there weren't big fireworks happening during that time. And all this is even WITH the dogs being on 100mg of trazadone to help with their anxiety! I'm just still shocked that carefree Nova was the one who was more upset than scaredy-dog Bozley. But she was only 6 months old during last 4th of July and she didn't come home to us until a couple weeks after that, so this was her first experience with so many fireworks in the middle of town. 

So...Ashlyn went to my grandparents' house but Johnny and I just spent the holiday at home. Sunday night Johnny grilled chicken, hamburgers, and hotdogs for dinner and we've been having leftovers. So that's always awesome! He even grilled two little steaks for Bozley and Nova to cut up and mix with their kibble as well. ;) The night of 4th of July we watched a movie on Netflix (with the volume turned way up to try to drown out the massive amounts of fireworks being shot off in our neighborhood): The Man from Toronto. It was a funny movie. :) 

Ooh and on Friday and Saturday we watched the last two (long!) episodes of Stranger Things! I really like that show. Hopefully we won't have to wait too long for the 5th (and final) season to come out. And last night we finally started watching Reacher on Amazon Prime. It's really good! We've only watched two episodes so far, but I'm sure we'll probably finish it this week. We've also been watching In the Dark each week since it's back on. I'm hoping Manifest will be back on soon, too. 

I've been busy lately! When I'm not working on editing photos, I've been working on CandiMaker stuff. I reorganized the sections in my Etsy shop a little bit and I'm finally getting everything ready to start selling my ready-to-press sublimation transfers. I have the listings written out and now I'm going through and creating all the listing photos that I'll use. I've also determined my pricing structure for them as well as shipping. So as soon as I have everything ready, I'll be able to get them all listed! :) I do need to get some more ink and sublimation paper, though. I'm not close to being out yet...but I don't want to run out while orders are coming in, either. I'm always excited when I start new "projects" for CandiMaker. :)

But...right now I have some transcription files to work on. I took off during the week of fireworks because I knew there would be too many disruptions. But...it gave me some time to work on other things as well. :) 

And on that note...back to work! :) 

Officially Summer!

 And...I hate summer. :P The heat doesn't agree with me at all. I have several health issues that are exacerbated by the heat and it's been in the 90s and 100s lately. UGH. 

Things have been good lately other than that though. We had a relaxing weekend at home with Johnny for father's day. We lounged in bed with the dogs and watched a documentary on Saturday. We are still loving the new king-size bed and being able to raise the head and foot of the bed. :) It definitely makes for some comfortable TV watching! And on Sunday Johnny gave the dogs a bath and I trimmed the fur on their paws for some in-between grooming until we can get them in to the groomer again. And then Aubry came over and the girls each gave Johnny a card and we hung out for awhile. It was really nice. :) 

Monday Johnny was off work for the holiday. We lounged around for awhile and then went over to my grandma's house to help her with a few things. We took the dogs with us and they had a good time. And Grandma always enjoys seeing them (and us, of course!). :) 

Tuesday Ashlyn and I (Johnny had to work) went to dinner with my mom and grandparents for Aubry's birthday. She picked Olive Garden which is always yummy. We just happened to get there as it started to downpour. And then when we were getting ready to leave it started raining again so we chatted for a little bit while we waited for the rain to calm down. It poured off and on all evening...which seems to happen every time after we give the dogs a bath. :P 

Ashlyn's new job is going well. She said they've even chosen her and another new coworker to be in charge of closing at certain times when needed. Her managers seem to be impressed with her take-charge attitude (she gets that from her mama) and ability to get things done and learn new things quickly. She wasn't sure how well she'd like the new job during training when they were at a different venue, but it looks like it's gotten a lot better since she started actually working at the facility. I'm glad she seems to be enjoying it. :)

I've been busy editing photos lately. We had some 4 generation photos taken a few months ago that I've been working on. It's taking me awhile but eventually I'll have all 155 photos finished! lol. But this weekend I have some transcription files to get done. I don't like to claim files when we have anything going on because I take pride in always getting my files back by the deadline and I don't like running myself short on time. So that's what I'll be doing for the next week or so. :) It'll be nice getting back into that groove. 

I can't believe June is almost over! I'm looking forward to July 1...that's when the final two LONG episodes of Stranger Things season 4 will be released by Netflix! We'll definitely be binge-watching those next weekend. :) I'm sad that there will only be one more season after this...but it's been a good run. 

But for now...back to work!

Yay! We have a new bed!

I am SO excited to have our new bed! We got it from my grandma. She had a king-size, adjustable Tempur-Pedic bed and was wanting to get a queen-size bed so she'll have more room in her bedroom. Johnny and I both have back problems...so we've definitely been looking forward to being able to raise the head and foot of the bed and the new memory foam mattress. We've just had queen-size pillow-top mattresses. First we had Johnny's that he bought in 2006. Then when we moved our bedroom upstairs in 2018, we switched to my mattress that was bought in 2009 (and hadn't been used since I moved in with Johnny in 2013). But in the last few years, my scoliosis has gotten worse and Johnny's back has been bothering him more...not to mention the fact that the dogs take up all the room. :P So we've been excited about the new bed!

Grandma's new bed was being delivered on Friday, so Thursday morning I took apart our bed and Ashlyn helped me move it downstairs while Johnny was working. Then that evening we picked up a U-Haul truck and went over to my grandma's house to load up the king-size bed and bring it to our house. It was SO HEAVY. The base is actually two separate twin XL bases...but with all the hardware and everything to adjust the head and foot of the bed they were a lot heavier than just a normal bed frame would be. Luckily my mom and dad were there to help too. Then we got it back to our house and unloaded it. We put the bases in our room but left the mattress and headboard in the hallway so I could still move the bases if I needed to while I was hooking all the cables back up. And then we took the U-Haul truck back so we didn't miss that deadline...and then we came back home and finished putting everything together and made the bed. 

I'm SO happy with the new bed! We actually still have a lot more room in our bedroom than I thought we might. I wasn't sure if we'd have to have it up against the wall, but we had enough room still for both nightstands AND the dog bed by the closet. We moved the dog steps to the end of the bed instead of the side...but that's about it. And we have a LOT more room in the bed, that's for sure. Usually Bozley doesn't lay in bed with us that long but since getting the new bed, he'll lay in our bed for almost half an hour before he finally gets down and goes to his bed. Nova still sleeps in our bed all night...but she's no longer taking up all the room and kicking us off the edge. ;) We raised the head/foot of the bed while the dogs were on it...and they were definitely not sure what to think about that! LOL. I'm sure if we turned on the massage function they'd really freak out when it started vibrating! 

I don't think I've ever slept as well as I have with the new bed. With the head raised a little bit and then raising the foot of the bed, my back feels so much better. Plus the mattress is SO comfortable. When grandma was buying her new bed, they said that once someone gets a Tempur-Pedic mattress they rarely get something else after that...and I can see why! I've definitely been sleeping better and waking up feeling more rested. And aside from being sore from moving furniture, my back is feeling better in general. I actually look forward to going to bed now! LOL. ;) 

Happy Birthday Boz!

It's hard to believe that our beautiful boy, Bozley, is TWO years old today! He got a special dinner (with some ground beef, cheese, etc. added to his kibble) and a new stuffed duck toy! He ate the dinner right up...and the toy was ripped apart in less than two hours. ;) Bozley has never been destructive with his toys...but he and Nova play tug-of-war and they end up ripping holes in their toys and pulling the stuffing out. :P So we've taken the squeaker and the stuffing out of the duck and he still loves it. We've even had some angry growls between the two of them fighting over the duck toy. :P 

Bozley has started eating better! He's still extremely picky...but he's now eating Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Skin and Stomach kibble without having to add other wet/fresh foods to it (because that got expensive!). After bringing Nova home, we went back to adding some water to the kibble and heated it up for about 8 seconds in the microwave...and now he'll eat it as long as I'm sitting in front of the kennel with the door open while he eats. ;) So...he's still high maintenance but we're making progress! 

He's not afraid of car rides anymore. Ever since the night we brought Nova home, he rides in the backseat like it was never a problem at all. He's even comfortable enough to lay down and sleep during the drive. However, one thing he remains terrified of is anyone on the roof. Like...PTSD terrified. They don't even have to be on our roof...two sets of neighbors recently each had their roof replaced and he was too scared to go outside after he saw people walking on the roof. 

He's also still too scared to go down the stairs into the basement. They're carpeted steps and there's a landing a couple steps down then they turn to a longer staircase...but he's never gone further than his front paws on the first step and looks downstairs. Nova goes down there all the time to go check on the cats (like every single time after she comes in the house) but he still doesn't go down there. Sometimes he acts like he really wants to...he's just too afraid to. If I go to the stairs and try to coax him to go down, he goes back and just lays on the couch and stares at me. 

Boz doesn't mind kisses on his muzzle (Nova isn't much of a fan) and he gives love by resting his muzzle on top of your face. It's funny...if you lean your face close to his and whisper something like, "Do you want to go downstairs?" he covers his muzzle over your mouth like he's telling you to be quiet. lol. ;) One of these days I'll have to try to get a video of it. 

He still likes to cuddle in short bursts. He'll lay next to you--especially if he gets some pets or chest rubbins--but then he'll get up and go lay on the floor (usually under the window next to the vent). I think he just gets too hot. Nova will lay in bed sandwiched in between me and Johnny for nearly the whole night...but Bozley prefers to sleep in his bed. In the mornings if Johnny gets up before I do (which has been a regular thing lately), Bozley will lay up on the bed in Johnny's spot with his head on Johnny's pillow until I get up. Most of the time he won't even go outside with Nova in the morning unless I'm awake. He's still a mama's boy. :) He still prefers to hide behind me when he's scared, too. 

We can't imagine life without our sweet BozzyBear. He and Nova complete our home in such a wonderful way. :) 

Here's Bozley just after midnight on his birthday! 

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Another Productive Weekend

Most of the three-day weekend we lounged around. We watched the Season Finale of Blacklist and then binge-watched the first 7 episodes of Stranger Things. But I also got a lot of work done in the basement. We're getting an adjustable king-size bed so I needed to make room downstairs to store our queen-size bed. I still have some more work to do...but at least now we have room for the bed. :) We also did some spring cleaning in the kitchen. Johnny pulled out the stove and vacuumed and cleaned the floor and everything! I also did a little bit of purging and reorganizing on the counter and in the cabinets. Always a work in progress! We also sprayed around the cabinet under the sink and along the edges in the kitchen for ants and bugs. We do it about once a year. And of course I vacuumed and did laundry and got all the other normal chores done. :P 

I've also been working on my Etsy shop and trying to decide what direction I want to take it. I've been considering offering POD in my Etsy shop, so I've been researching that a lot. I don't think that's what I want to do right now though. I am planning to start offering sublimation transfer prints soon. I'd like to get a thermal label printer at some point to make printing shipping labels more convenient. Before I can print labels at all, I'll need to figure out the issues with our regular printer that we bought a few years ago. I don't know if it's just trying to die on us or if it just needs some maintenance. I'd like to get another (smaller) Epson EcoTank printer. That'll be a little while though. I'm also planning to start designing planner sticker printables...and I'd like to start offering printed sticker kits in the future but I will probably wait until I get a new printer to start doing that. 

I also have an idea of products that I will start making in the future to offer in my Etsy shop. It isn't something that I've found many people already offering on Etsy...and none the way that I plan to. So I'm pretty excited about that. But there are a lot of details that I need to hammer out first and some work that I need to do before I can make that vision a reality. But...I'm really excited for the future of CandiMaker! :) 

Another busy weekend!

This past weekend wasn't quite as busy as garage sale weekend...but it felt busy. It was at least a productive weekend. On Saturday I spent all day working in the basement. The night before the garage sale, Aubry came over and finished sorting and packing all the stuff in her room. She and a friend of hers got a small storage unit and they were able to take some of her stuff over there. So this weekend I worked on taking down the bed and the desk and getting the rest of the stuff out of her room. Then I moved almost all of the boxes of my mother-in-law's stuff into Aubry's closet. If the closet was just a little bit bigger I could've fit all of them...just needed one more row. 

I also moved all the cat stuff into Aubry's room too...their food and water bowls, litterbox, cat tree, etc. Then I moved the gate that we had at the top of the stairs to the door of Aubry's room. The dogs have been barking at the cats at the top of the stairs so I wanted to remove that "tension spot" as much as possible. It's really working out a lot better. Even without the gate, Bozley has no desire to go down the stairs...but Nova loves going down there. It's actually giving Nova and the cats some time to get to know each other without Bozley around. Boz and Nova tend to get each other worked up and being that excited makes the cats just want to hide. But when Bozley isn't around, Nova is a lot more calm and she will just sit or lay down and watch the cats from the other side of the gate. She goes down to check on them every once in awhile and then comes back upstairs. So it's nice that Leo and Angel are able to get to know Nova in a more calm manner than when Bozley is around. Hopefully Leo and Angel will start to feel comfortable enough to come upstairs again eventually. I mean...they seem content downstairs, we just miss seeing them more often. :) 

I also took apart our big dining room table Saturday and took it downstairs. It's a tall, hexagon shaped table and took up a lot of room. It's nice for big family dinners, but we only have those maybe once or twice a year anymore. So on Sunday, my parents brought over my grandma's dining room table. It's a smaller round table that has a couple leaves that we can use to expand the table when we have dinners. Grandma decided the table and chairs were just too heavy for her to move around while cleaning and everything so she has a lighter table now and we have a smaller table. :) And the wood of the new table matches our cabinets and floor better than the darker hexagon table we had. The only thing that's taking some time to get used to is the fact that the table seems so short compared to our old one! :P But it really looks good in the space and I think we'll really like the extra room. 

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I finally got all the stuff left over from the garage sale put into the plastic bins...at least the items small enough to fit in the bins. I still need to finish going through the basement AND decide where I'm going to store the bins (the basement or the garage) but I'll start working on that after I take a break. I'm way too tired and sore to work on it right now. :P It's one of those things where my mind is all, "Ooh this sounds like a good idea!" And then the next day (or week) my body is like, "Why are you so dumb?" LOL. But...now that all the stuff we sold or got rid of in the garage sale is out of the way, at least I have more room to work in the basement and the garage to sort and organize what's left. I am going to have to do it soon though...because we'll have to figure out what to do with our queen-size bed because we're going to be getting a king-size adjustable bed soon. :) 

In other news, Ashlyn has started training for her new job! She's just worked a couple days so far and then next week she'll start her actual job. This is her first payroll job and she seems to be enjoying it so far. :) 

I'm sad that the season finales of our shows are coming up or have already aired. We watched NCIS last night and the Law & Order SVU and Organized Crime season finales aired last week. Then Friday night we have the Blacklist season finale. BUT...one nice thing is that several other shows that we watch are starting up again. Season 4 of Stranger Things is being released Friday so we'll binge watch that after Blacklist. And then In the Dark starts again in about two weeks. I think The Boys has a third season being released next week. I was hoping Manifest would come back over the summer...but I think that won't be until late fall or something. But...you know...first world problems. :P 

It was a loooong week.

This past weekend was the citywide garage sale. It was very successful!

The weekend before I started working on getting everything ready and pricing stuff. Thursday we went to my storage unit to go through everything there. I'd forgotten what I had in there...which apparently was everything from the last garage sale we had in 2014. :P There were boxes upon boxes upon boxes of clothes in there...on top of the 10 plastic bin of clothes (plus some more clothes that didn't fit in those bins) that I had at home that I'd just priced! There was just SO MANY CLOTHES. So, we loaded up my grandma's truck and my dad's truck to bring everything out to my house. We also got a canopy that my dad had gotten from the school (they were just throwing it away because the track team had gotten new ones) which was definitely amazing and provided us some much needed shade...because it was pretty hot out. We also had an extension cord and a fan so that also helped a lot. I'd also made chicken salad Thursday evening so we'd have something to eat for lunch that could be eaten cold.  

I tried to organize everything as much as possible Thursday night to make Friday morning move more smoothly. I ended up not getting to bed until almost 3am. I set my alarm to wake up by 5:30am but...I woke up to my mom ringing the doorbell at 6:01am. :P But we got right to work setting up. We had four long tables and a card table. We'd planned to hang the shirts up, but our original idea for that fell through. So we hung up the dresses but actually ended up just leaving the shirts in the bins and boxes. Luckily, they were all organized by size and I think that helped a lot. Then everything else was either spread out on the tables or along the driveway and sidewalk. We have a sidewalk that is basically the width of two sidewalks so we definitely took advantage of that. 

The Rotary Club "runs" the citywide garage sale. They put together a list of all the addresses and makes the list available through the local newspaper. For $10 you can be included on the list and receive a yard sign (there were 118 addresses listed this year). I wasn't 100% sure what the weather was going to be like...plus I knew we weren't going to be participating on Thursday. So I actually didn't sign up for be included in the list. But we live on a busy road so we naturally get a lot of traffic...which is also on the way to other developments where there were other garage sales. So I think a lot of people just saw our garage sale on the way to other garage sales. We are also close by a school...so that helps too. 

I price my items fairly low, because my main motivation is to get rid of as much as possible. We actually had more than one customer give us MORE than the quarter that was listed for each item because they felt it was worth more than that. I've never had that happen before! We also had a couple of girls who told us that ours was the best garage sale they'd been to of the entire day. So that was nice to hear! We did amazing on Friday. We still did well on Saturday...but since a lot had been bought, the sale looked smaller on Saturday so it didn't draw as many people in from the street. I was honestly surprised that we sold so many clothes considering people had to dig through the bins and boxes since we couldn't hang them up. In my hometown, people didn't really dig through things to look...they just browsed at whatever they could see. I was also surprised that we sold so many shoes! Aside from baby shoes, we've probably only sold less than half a dozen shoes TOTAL in all the garage sales we've ever had combined (and we used to have at least once garage sale a year when I was growing up). But with this garage sale, we sold MORE than a dozen pairs of shoes and boots. A lot of the shoes we sold were pairs that didn't sell in our previous garage sales! lol. 

We actually didn't have as much stuff put out there as I planned. We didn't get to everything in the garage or the basement...just ran out of time. And my sister wasn't able to join in the garage sale this year, either...but my mom and grandma did hang out and help with set-up, clean-up, and helping with customers. The girls helped out too and they also put some of their stuff in the garage sale to make a little extra money. Originally I told them they could only put stuff in there that they'd bought themselves...but I ended up being pretty lax on that since they did stick around and help. However, Saturday was rough. Ashlyn had to work and Aubry was kinda whiney (we were ALL tired and cranky) and she and I tend to butt heads at that point...so it made for a longer day. :P 

Saturday afternoon we started closing down around noon. We decided to start separating out a few things that I wanted to save for one last garage sale...and things that we just want to get rid of. Pretty much everything that was marked less than $1 we put out along the sidewalk and listed it as free. While we were separating things out, we still had customers coming and looking through both the free and the marked items. After we were all closed up, I left the free items out all weekend as well as today...and we've had a lot of people stop by and either pick through boxes and grab a few things or just take whole boxes full of stuff. I'm SO glad we thought to do that...because I'm NOT bringing any of it back in my house. Now I have more room to sort through the rest of the stuff in the house...and in a year or two we'll have one last huge garage sale to get rid of everything else (and hopefully it'll work out for my sister to join in next time too). And then...I'll be DONE with garage sales! :P They're always much better in theory than when it comes time to actually doing it. They're a LOT of work...and I'm still so TIRED and sore today. Ultimately, I'm glad we did it though. :)