Another post!

We'll see if I can start posting more often this year...even if it's just a short blurb. We'll see how it goes.  

I want to start making more new recipes, too. I've gotten into the habit of just cycling through the recipes I already have instead of making much new stuff lately. Christmas Eve I made Creamy Chicken & Noodles in the pressure cooker. Then Tuesday I made a spiral cut ham (in the oven because it was too big to fit int he pressure cooker). It's basically the same recipe as I made for Thanksgiving 2021 though. Then Tuesday night I made Vegetable Beef Soup in the pressure cooker. As you can see...I really like cooking in the pressure cooker. ;) My recipe always makes a lot, so we had leftovers for Wednesday and Thursday. Then Sunday or Monday I plan to actually make a new recipe! I'm going to make potato soup. But Johnny is in the mood for hamburgers...so I'll make those (in the air fryer) tonight so we don't have "soup" twice in a row. :P But I'm planning on making a creamy soup so at least it will be a totally different kind of soup. 

I made it to 450 sales today in my Etsy shop! I'm also a Star Seller again for January. :) June was the first month I reached enough sales to make Star Seller and I've been a Star Seller every month since. :) I'm looking forward to the year and watching my business grow. 

But for now I need to go make some hamburgers. :P Hope everyone is having a good start to the new year!

Hello January

First real post of 2024! 

I was sick the last few days of 2023 into the new year. It didn't last too long and I'm feeling better now. Whenever I'm sick, my neuropathy flares up really bad...so I wasn't getting much sleep. I tossed and turned a lot which made my back and joints even more sore than usual. So we just had a relaxing New Years at home. 

New Years Eve was Nova's birthday! Unfortunately it gets celebrated with her least favorite thing in the world...fireworks. :P Luckily there weren't a whole lot of fireworks and they were over after about 15-20 minutes. It wasn't too bad until one of the neighbors behind us set off some really, really loud ones. It's illegal to set off fireworks here outside of the dates and times allowed during 4th of July, but that never matters. Since I was sick, we didn't do anything for Nova's birthday last weekend but I think we're planning to take her to Petco this weekend to let her pick out some new toys and treats. She LOVES going to Petco (anywhere, really). We always have to make a stop by the small animals because she likes watching them. I want to get both Boz and Nova into the groomer sometime, too, but we need to take them to the vet to get this year's shots first. So we'll get around to that sometime. The dogs are doing great, though. I mean...Bozley is still the pickiest dog ever and it's a pain trying to get him to eat all his food, but they're such cute, sweet puppies. Nova is far more calm, laid back, and cuddly. She has been such a wonderful addition to our family...I can't imagine not having either one of them. 

On New Years Day, Johnny was in the mood to deep clean the kitchen. He started in the morning/early afternoon cleaning the bar and everything on it and then when I was done with orders, I finished up most of the rest. I didn't get to the microwave or the fridge...and I didn't do the upper cabinets, but it's a pretty good start and looks great. :) 

I got my new laptop! It's nice having a fresh start after 10.5 years of having the same computer. I'm loving it so far! I got a Dell Insprion 15-3520 with an i7 processor, 16gb RAM, and 1tb of storage (though I have two 5gb external drives that I store most of my stuff on)...which is basically an upgraded version of my old laptop which was a Dell Inspiron 15-5520 with an i5 processor that I'd upgraded from 8gb to 16gb RAM. It's SO much faster than my old laptop and has a better keyboard, graphics card, and Bluetooth. One of my requirements for a laptop is that it has a numerical keypad (I do a lot of accounting so I use 10-key all the time) so I had limited options to choose from...but I'm happy with this one. I do wish that it had a DVD drive, but it's much lighter without it. It also doesn't have a USB-C port, but I'd rather have the three USB-A ports instead of two and one USB-C. My phone is really the only thing I have right now that's a USB-C so it's not that big of a deal...I have a C to A cord that works fine. My only real complaint is that the outflow vent is above the keyboard pointed toward the screen...so the top of the keyboard often gets pretty warm. My last laptop had the outflow vent on the outside edge so I didn't notice it as much. But...overall I'm very happy that I have a new laptop and everything actually works. lol. 

I've been busy the last couple days redesigning a new planner for the year. My sister got me a Hoop Mama Creative Boss planner that I used last year, but it was mostly focused on business-only and I want one that incorporates everything and is more tailored to my needs. I'd made one back in 2021 when I was still doing transcription, but it was before I started CandiMaker so I needed something more. Hopefully this new planner will do the trick! 

I'm also excited to start making planner products to sell for CandiMaker. I want to make covers, stickers, and more...and I'm pretty excited about it. Of course, my biggest issue at the moment is trying to decide how to arrange my products...if I want to sell them under CandiMakerStickers or revamp CandiMakerDesigns for planner products (which is the way I'm leaning right now). So we'll see how it goes. First, I need to finish uploading my stickers to eBay. I only uploaded a few designs to start because I wasn't sure if it would even be worth it...but I made a decent-sized sale within just a few weeks. 

I've been watching a lot of Burn Notice and Chance on Hulu in the background while I've been working. The only thing I've really watched Hugh Laurie on was House...and I loved that show. He plays a much different (yet still American) character on Chance but I really like him in it. My favorite character, though, is D. He's a pretty unique character and I just love his demeanor and the way he always says, "awesome," in response to everything. And then Johnny and I have been watching Reacher and Man in the High Castle during dinner. Reacher is probably my favorite currently-airing show right now. I love Alan Ritchson's character...and I love the humor. Season 1 was awesome, but I'm enjoying Season 2 as well. I hope it'll continue airing for many more seasons! We just started Man in the High Castle last month and we're on Season 2 now...it's pretty interesting and I'm curious to see where it leads. And new episodes of Law & Order and NCIS start again in January. We dropped the Live portion of Hulu during the strikes because there weren't new episodes of our shows anyway...but we may get it again now that they'll be back. 

Well...I'm gonna get back to work! Hope everyone has a wonderful 2024! 

And now it's 2024!

 Here's my annual "Year in Review" post! :) 

1. What age did you turn in 2023? 42

2. What was your relationship status in 2023? Johnny and I celebrated our 6th year of marriage and 11th year together!

3. Did you move in 2023? Nope. I've been living here for 10 (and a half) years now!

4. Did you purchase a new vehicle in 2023? Nope. It's lasted 4 years...hopefully it'll last quite a few more!

5. Did you add any new family members in 2023? Nope. 

6. Did you lose any family members in 2023? The dog my grandparents adopted from the Humane Society more than 16 years ago passed away just before Christmas. :( 

7. Did you have any school or work changes in 2023? I started CandiMakerStickers in January! I realized how much I really like making stickers...and actually decided to stop doing sublimation. I really enjoyed it at first...but I just wasn't passionate about it. I spent so much time working on my sticker shop--designing and making stickers, filling sticker orders, working on SEO for my sticker shop--that I neglected to work on new designs or SEO for the digital design and transfer shops. I was still getting orders trickling in that I was filling, but I wasn't really making an effort to get more orders. So in June I shut down CandiMakerTransfers and in October I shut down CandiMakerDesigns. I may still end up utilizing those shops for other products that I plan to start selling in the future, but for now I'm really enjoying stickers. :) 

8. Did you travel anywhere in 2023? Nope. We really need a vacation! :P Then again...I'd want it to be somewhere we can take the dogs. And now that I think about it...it'd be really hard not sleeping in our king size Tempur-Pedic adjustable bed, too. :P 

9. Did you make any big purchases in 2023? I bought a cold roll laminator in March which has been amazing for self-adhesive laminate sheets for my stickers.

10. What was the best gift you received in 2023? Definitely my printer! A few months ago, the Epson ET-16650 was on sale for the same amount I paid for my ET-5800 (which is basically the same printer, the ET-16650 is just bigger and faster). So my mom bought the new ET-16650 which I got, mom is getting my ET-5800, and my sister got the ET-16650 that I was had already converted for sublimation. 

11. Did you learn any new skills in 2023? I started making sticker sheets! I can't really think of anything else since I started practicing making die-cut stickers in December 2022.

12. Did you redecorate in 2023? Just more reorganizing in my office...especially my desk. Oh and I redid the tabletop that I use for my Cricut Maker 3. I took the top of my art desk and covered it with contact paper...much sturdier than the heavy cardboard I was using before (which was actually the backing of a short bookcase that we no longer have). One day I'd still love to build a wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling unit for my office...but we'll see. :P

13. Did you read any good books in 2023? No. I just haven't made time for reading. Most of my time is spent on CandiMaker things. 

14. Did you see any good movies in 2023? I think my favorite movie that we watched was Expend4bles for my birthday. 

15. What TV shows were your favorite in 2023? Definitely Reacher! It's SO funny! We watched the last seasons of Manifest and Blacklist. Still watching the Law & Order franchise and NCIS. A new show we watched in 2023 was Chance on Hulu! I really loved it. And it's not a TV show, but I've been watching the Talkville podcast on YouTube. I've been rewatching Burn Notice. I really miss that show...they should definitely make a comeback. Oh and at the end of the year we started watching The Man in the High Castle. We're on Season 2 right now and it's pretty good.

16. What things did you do in 2023 that you'd never done before? Honestly, I can't really think of anything. I did make some new recipes: Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Bread and Soft Ginger Molasses Cookies. 

17. What do you wish you'd done more of in 2023? Walked the dogs, honestly. I've been having horrible back pain and just walking short distances is incredibly painful...even more so holding the leash of two dogs that haven't quite caught on to the not pulling thing. I also have so many books that I've wanted to read but never make time for it. 

18. What were you proud of in 2023? CandiMakerStickers! I opened my Etsy shop on January 13, 2023...National Sticker Day! I'd set my goal at that time to have 300 sales by the end of the year...and I met that goal in October! Then my goal was to reach $2000 in revenue on my Etsy dashboard, and I accomplished that on Christmas Day! :) Oh and I also got my first Faire order in November and my first eBay order in December. :) 

19. What was the one defining moment of 2023? Starting my CandiMakerStickers Etsy shop. :) 

20. How would you describe 2023 in three words? Productive, Successful, Loving :) 

And now for some 2024 questions... 

1. What did you NOT have in 2023 that you would like to have in 2024? Same thing I say every year! A vacation!

2. What skills do you want to learn or improve in 2024? Always want to improve my arts and crafts skills! <-- same one again

3. What do you want to do more of in 2024? Just keep working on my Etsy shop(s) to make them even more successful. :) 

4. What do you want to buy in 2024? I finally purchased a new laptop today! That's the only "big" purchase I have planned. 

5. What is your number one goal for 2024? Increasing products and profits for CandiMaker...same as last year! :)