RECIPE: Cheeseburger Soup

Another new recipe for the new year! This is a new soup in the pressure cooker that I basically just made up as I went. It turned out pretty yummy and it was super quick and easy. 

Cheeseburger Soup 

Ingredients:

1lb ground beef
1/2 tbs fresh minced garlic 

32 oz beef broth
1 small onion, diced 
1 carrot, peeled and diced

1 celery stalk, diced   

1 can petite diced tomatoes, do not drain 

1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce 
16oz Velveeta cheese, cubed
16oz elbow macaroni, prepared according to package

Directions:

1. Brown ground beef with minced garlic and drain. 

2. Combine beef broth, ground beef, onion, carrot, celery, paprika, salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce in the pressure cooker pot and stir. 

3. Pour the diced tomatoes in the pot then topped with the cubes of Velveeta cheese. Do not stir.

4. Set the pressure cooker to "Soup" and cook for 5 minutes. Carefully quick release the pressure when finished. 

5. Stir in elbow macaroni and serve. 

You can serve topped with crackers, corn chips, or whatever else you like! The picture below is of Johnny's bowl...he likes to add a lot more pepper. ;) 

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RECIPE: Garlic Butter Chicken Bites in Creamy Parmesan Sauce

I haven't posted a new recipe in quite awhile. I was wanting to use our new pots and pans so I decided to make something that actually isn't in the pressure cooker or air fryer. Aubry really liked it. It tastes a lot like chicken alfredo. 

Garlic Butter Chicken Bites in Creamy Parmesan Sauce 

Ingredients:

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed

4 tbs butter 

1 tbs fresh minced garlic

1 pint heavy cream

1.5 cups fresh grated parmesan

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

10 oz penne pasta prepared according to package

Directions:

1. Melt butter in pan on medium heat.  

2. Add chicken and minced garlic. Cook until the chicken is fully cooked (165 degrees F) and starting to turn golden brown. 

3. Stir in cream and parmesan. Turn to simmer and cook until sauce has thickened, stirring occasionally. 

4. Turn off heat and mix the pasta into the chicken and sauce. Season with salt and pepper.  

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Here we are...2025!

My first post of the new year already! 

I updated all my spreadsheets for the new year. I have a "home life" spreadsheet where I have all of our bills lined out for the year. They're all separated out by Johnny's pay periods. So every week he gets paid, I pay the bills after his checks hit (at least the bills that aren't set up on autopay). I plan them out so that the last paycheck of each month just makes the mortgage payment and the rest of the bills are paid during the earlier pay period(s). That way it kind of balances out his checks a little more. I also printed out a copy for Johnny...because he's always asking me which bills are being paid each payday. Of course...he'll probably still ask me. ;) 

I also updated my CandiMaker spreadsheets (I have SO many!) and closed out the year. Each day I update my Order Count and Daily Revenue calendar spreadsheets. I also record all my orders in a spreadsheet with all the order information and the fees/postage for each order. I also have a "receipt" spreadsheet that records all expenses separated by category for the Schedule C tax form...so all I have to do is input the numbers from my spreadsheet when I'm doing my taxes. And I have an annual Profit/Loss spreadsheet that I update each month. P&L records are mainly used for anything where you have to provide income information for things like financing. Then there's the "Sales" spreadsheet that I update each month. It tracks my "sales" (number of listings/variations sold in every order) for each separate Etsy shop. I record monthly, annual, and grand total sales based on my "Order Items" data download from Etsy. I also measure how many days between every 50 sales. September was the first month where I had 50 sales in 7 days...but in December I reached 50 sales in 5 days during the first week of December and then had accumulated another 50 sales 4 days later.  December was my most successful month ever. My previous record for orders in one week was 45 orders in the last week of November...and I passed that in the the first week of December with 57 orders. My previous record for most orders in one month was 137 in July...and I had 175 orders in December. December was also the month with highest revenue and highest profit...which has grown exponentially since 2023. In my CandiMakerStickers Etsy shop alone...my revenue is up 316% YOY. Number of orders in that shop is up 205% with 1082 orders this year versus 355 orders last year. I hope I can keep the same momentum in 2025! My goal for 2025 is to reach 3500 sales in my CandiMakerStickers Etsy shop. 

There's a lot of CandiMaker stuff I want to work on in 2025. I wasn't super pleased with my magnetic bookmark cardstock and laminate...so I want to work on finding the best combination of materials. So hopefully this year I'll have some magnetic bookmarks listed before November. I want to work on regular bookmarks and planner covers at some point, too. I also still have over 30 pages of quotes for sticker design ideas that I want to work on. I haven't listed new sticker designs for awhile. The last half of 2024 I spent more time working on new products than new stickers, so I haven't listed new designs for awhile. Right now I'm still focused on custom name stickers, though...so I want to finish those listings first. I also need to get my website up and running. I let my previous domain expire because I hadn't done anything with it since I bought the domain (which was awhile ago). So I got a new domain (registered for 5 years) and I want to get it up and running this month...even if it's just a landing/redirect page for now. I also need to upload more of my existing designs to eBay and Faire. I've been so busy with my Etsy sticker shop the last couple months that I didn't devote much time to anything else. My planner Etsy shop is pretty quiet too. I need to make more sticker sheet designs...but with my die-cut stickers and magnets doing so well, I don't really focus on sticker sheets. Maybe one of these days...I want to get to the other stuff first. :) 

Still working on getting Milo to go to the bathroom in the Litter Robot. :P I still have their old litterbox in the cat room...and even had to remove the hood because that suddenly made him nervous. He's still jumpy going into the cat room...so I've been going down there everyday to give treats, sprinkle some catnip, and coax him in the room for a little while. I also turned the Litter Robot off and just turn it on every day or two so it'll run a clean cycle and then turn it back off. I did see on the camera I put down there that Milo slowly walked up to the Litter Robot and was smelling it. He hasn't gone inside again yet, but it's progress. :) Angel still loves the Litter Robot and goes in there at least 4 times a day. She likes to run in and watch it do the clean cycle, too...which makes it stop mid-cycle. LOL. She's been spending a lot of time in the cat room since I put a new litter mat in there. She'll take her mouse toy in there and throw it around...sometimes into the Litter Robot and she'll jump in and grab it. ;) 

We're supposed to get winter weather this weekend. So far it's just been rain/ice but it's supposed to snow tomorrow. We let the dogs out one at a time after dinner (they get dirty wrestling around with each other when we let them out together)...and Boz seems to think ice is the same thing as snow and he has to flop around like a fish in it. LOL. He came in all dirty and wet. Thank goodness they go to the groomer on the 30th! But Johnny might have to give them one more bath before they go. :P 

I made a new dish for dinner in our new pots and pans! I generally prefer to use the pressure cooker or air fryer, but it's not so bad cooking with the new pans that are really non-stick...so they're easy to clean. I have another new recipe that I'm planning to make in a couple days, too. Now I'm going to post tonight's recipe...  

2024 Year in Review

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

1. What age did you turn in 2024? 43

2. What was your relationship status in 2024? Johnny and I celebrated our 7th year of marriage and 12 years together! And we've been in love with each other for 19 years now! 

3. Did you move in 2024? Nope. I've been living here for almost 11 years now and Johnny has lived here for 18 years!

4. Did you purchase a new vehicle in 2024? Nope. It's lasted 5 years so far...hopefully it'll last quite a few more! Johnny is wanting to trade it in for something else, though. 

5. Did you add any new family members in 2024? Nope. Although Aubry and Ashlyn's boyfriends were introduced to the rest of the family this year. I made a rule a long time ago that boyfriends don't come to family functions/holidays unless they've been around for a year...because I don't want a lot of random guys coming and going. 

6. Did you lose any family members in 2024? Unfortunately. :( My Uncle Billy died in August. He was a Chief Petty Officer in the US Navy for over 20 years and served in Desert Storm. He had been in California since I was young, but we remained very close over the years. Then he moved back to Kansas a few years after he retired. I was really glad that my kids were able to meet him. My stepdaughter lost her husband and 11-year-old stepson in September due to a wrong-way driver on the highway. :( And my good friend, Micki, passed away in December. She was one of the sweetest, most generous people I've ever known. Everyone just loved to be around her because she could elevate the mood of the room with her humor. 

7. Did you have any school or work changes in 2024? In February, I added magnets to my CandiMakerStickers Etsy shop and they've done really well. At first, my listing photos still showed the image of a hand holding a sticker...but in September I changed all my listing photos including the main listing photo which was now just the sticker design by itself. I also included the words "Sticker or Magnet" and that 3 sizes are available and I think that's made a huge difference...I started getting a lot more magnet orders as soon as I made that change. Magnets are also a higher price point, so that's increased my income quite a bit since last year. I also offer custom text stickers and magnets which have been doing well. And in November I started adding some more custom name stickers/magnets that have gained some traction. I changed my CandiMakerTransfers Etsy shop into CandiMakerPlanners to sell sticker sheets this year, too. Originally I was selling them in my sticker shop, but it just felt more cluttered. Progress is slow with CMP though because I spend a lot more time working on CMS.

8. Did you travel anywhere in 2024? Nope. Maybe one of these days! 

9. Did you make any big purchases in 2024? Too many, actually! I'd already planned to get my new laptop in January...which is basically an updated version of my old laptop and works SO much better. And my sticker shop has done so well this year that my shop had already "paid off" that expense by the end of March. But then in April we had to replace our entire AC/furnace system (which was luckily paid for mostly by insurance since it was a failure as a result of a power surge). But then in August a storm blew down two sides of our fence. So we had to get that replaced. THEN we had to replace the refrigerator in October because our Samsung side-by-side refrigerator that we'd purchased in 2014 stopped cooling again. But we really like the new Frigidaire French door refrigerator. It feels like there's a lot more room. Apparently this was the year of replacing broken stuff. :P Hopefully that isn't repeated in 2025! Oh! And we got a Litter Robot 4 during Black Friday/Cyber Monday! It was my birthday present from Johnny. :) 

10. What was the best gift you received in 2024? Well aside from the Litter Robot...we got a new Carote White Granite set of pots and pans. I really love them so far...they're very non-stick so they're easy to clean. And it's nice having a complete set instead of a really old set (my previous set of pots and pans were from 2005) and some miscellaneous pieces thrown in. :P Johnny also got me some Sims4 games for Christmas. :) 

11. Did you learn any new skills in 2024? The only thing I can really think of is just making die-cut magnets...which isn't really a whole lot different from making my die-cut stickers. But I did figure out how to make both magnets and stickers on the same sheet of paper with my Cricut. :)

12. Did you redecorate in 2024? Not that I can really think of. I added more organization to my desk, but not really any "decor" stuff. 

13. Did you read any good books in 2024? Nope. Most of my time is spent on CandiMaker things and I just never make time for reading unless I'm waiting somewhere. I always have at least one book in my purse all the time in case I have a long wait for an appointment or when I had jury duty. I keep "collecting" books...so maybe one of these days I'll get around to actually reading them! I do read really fast...so most of the time when I do sit down to purposely read a book, I usually finish it in a day or two. Maybe I'll try to start setting aside some time for reading this year. :) 

14. Did you see any good movies in 2024? We watched Damsel, The Painter, The Beekeeper, Carry On...those were the only ones I can remember that Johnny and I watched together. Oh and he also watched a couple Kiefer Sutherland movies with me: Forsaken and Behind the Red Door. We usually watch more TV shows than movies. 

15. What TV shows were your favorite in 2024? Reacher is probably my top favorite. I can't wait for Season 3 on February 20th! I was also excited for Season 6 of Virgin River that came out on December 19th. I really like a lot of TV shows...and it's kind of "our thing" to watch episodes while we we're eating dinner. Shows that Johnny and I started watching together this year: Tracker, Tulsa King, Rabbit Hole, Once Upon a Time, Secrets & Lies, Black Doves, and The Terminal List (we haven't finished that one yet). Shows I watched on my own: The Killing and High Potential. Shows we still watch together: NCIS, SVU, and Organized Crime. We've watched a lot of stand-up comedian specials, too. Oh and I've watched a lot of documentaries (true crime and cults are my favorite subjects). 

16. What things did you do in 2024 that you'd never done before? Dealt with the dogs getting sprayed by a skunk...twice! That was NOT fun! We've had skunks around here a lot, but in the 11 years that I've lived here with dogs, we've never actually had any get sprayed...until this summer. I also discovered that the strong skunk smell triggers my trigeminal neuralgia which makes it even worse. :( 

17. What do you wish you'd done more of in 2024? Probably slept, honestly. LOL. I tend to work late a lot of nights because the dogs are usually more calm when it's quiet outside. So that's when I tend to be more productive. I try to go to bed no later than 2:30am, but sometimes I get in a groove and get to sleep later than that. :P But since Johnny doesn't have to start work until 10:30am, I'm able to sleep in. So that helps. 

18. What were you proud of in 2024? For me personally, I'm proud of how things are going with CandiMaker. My original goal for the year was to hit 1000 sales in my sticker shop...which I reached in July. Then I hit 1800 sales in December! My revenue for 2024 is up over 300% from my revenue in 2023. So I'm really proud of my progress. Since the second half of 2024, I'm making about the same amount of money I was back when I was working a part-time job outside of the home. And then my kids... Ashlyn finished school at WSU Tech in composite fabrication and Aubry got a crew lead position at work. She's been working for the defense section of a large aircraft company since getting her sheet metal assembly certificate from WSU Tech in 2022. 

19. What was the one defining moment of 2024? I would say probably the end of our bankruptcy! We'd filed Chapter 13 back in 2019 after we'd fallen behind when Johnny was having some medical issues. It was a pretty big chunk of money that was taken out of each of Johnny's paychecks. So it's definitely a relief to have that out of the way. Oh! And his student loans were also forgiven through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program back in April...so that was a weight off his shoulders as well. 

20. How would you describe 2024 in three words? Loving, productive, and expensive. :P

And now for some 2025 questions... 

1. What did you NOT have in 2024 that you would like to have in 2025? Hm...probably full-time income from CandiMaker! :) But if not in 2025, hopefully I'll at least get there before Johnny retires. 

2. What skills do you want to learn or improve in 2025? It's not really a "skill" but I want to improve my magnetic bookmarks to start selling them again. I'd sold them early on, but I want to find better cardstock/laminate combination that holds up to heavy use without peeling. So I plan to work on that.

3. What do you want to do more of in 2025? Aside from work stuff, I do want to get the stationary bike from my mom's house and exercise more. Perimenopause has been BLAH and between that and all my back and joint pain from hEDS, I want to start with the lowest impact option. I'd swim, but we don't have a pool and I don't want to go anywhere to swim. :P So I'm going to start with the bike. I think mom and I are going to start walking the dogs together once a week or something, too. 

4. What do you want to buy in 2025? Split king mattresses! We have a king size adjustable bed, but Johnny and I have very different sleep positions. But...we need to bring in a lot of dirt for the low spots in the yard first and get some other things done around the house...so we'll see. 

5. What is your number one goal for 2025? I've written pretty vague goals the last several years...so my specific goal for 2025 is to reach 3500 sales in my CandiMakerStickers shop. :) 
And maybe this year I'll make a goal of reading 12 books this year (at least one a month)...but we'll see how that goes. ;) 

Almost Christmas?!

This year has gone by so fast! 

On the 14th, we went to my sister's house to celebrate Christmas. She got Johnny a new Yeti coffee cup and I got a cool set of mixing bowls. My dad also got Johnny (all the boys, actually) a hair trimmer... which was good because I was actually planning to buy Johnny a new one. LOL. Oh, and mom also got me sone Hallmark miniature ornaments for my little wooden tree. :) The girls were spoiled too. 

Ashlyn has been sick this weekend...so hopefully she'll be feeling better by Wednesday. I think she's calling the doctor today to see if she can get an appointment before the holiday. So we'll see how that goes. And Aubry is off work until the 2nd. Johnny only has Christmas Day and New Years Day off. :( 

Work has slowed down for me now that we're getting closer to the holiday. For about three weeks I was super busy and getting about 50 orders a week. Last week it dropped down to 30 orders. I've gotten 141 orders so far for December with more than a week still left to go...which already beats my previous record of 137 in July 2024. 

I'm enjoying a little more downtime right now. I got several Sims4 packs from Johnny for Christmas, so I've enjoyed playing around with that. I love building houses on there. :) 

The Litter Robot is going...slowly. Angel LOVES it. She uses it all the time. She also likes to go in and watch it turn to dump it out. If she stands on the step, it stops turning. Leo has also used it several times. However, despite being the very first one to use it (before I actually turned it on), Milo is scared of it. He's scared to the point that he is nervous even going into the cat room. So I've been trying to work with him and I still have their old litterbox down there. It doesn't get used as often as it did, though. 

Oh! And I watched Season 6 of Virgin River! I watched one episode before I went to bed early Thursday morning and then watched the other 9 episodes throughout the day. It was pretty good...but has a big cliffhanger at the end. It moved a little slow at times...and the most interesting and pivotal moments from the entire season all happened in the last 7 minutes. :P It's been picked up for Season 7...and I really hope we don't have to wait all the way until December to watch it. 

And the rest of our shows are on hiatus...so we'll have to find some other stuff to watch. Nate Bargatze has a special has another Netflix special on Tuesday, so we're excited to watch that. No idea what else we'll be watching. 

Well...I should probably head to bed. I hope everyone has a merry Christmas!