Spring!

It's finally spring...and we've been having crazy Kansas weather. It'll be 70 one day and then snowing the next day. There's also been crazy wind off and on, of course...and I really hate the wind because it gives me migraines. I'd gotten some samples of migraine meds from my doctor last year. There isn't a generic of them so they're pretty expensive. He gave me a couple packs of two different medications...which was almost $1000 in samples. 

I'm also still dealing with the nerve issues in my shoulder. The TENS unit seems to be the only thing providing relief right now...but that's only while I'm using it. I've also had issues with sciatica radiating to peroneal nerve pain. I've had issues with sciatica off and on since 2002, but this is the first time I've had it around the front/side of my knee. It makes it really hard to get comfortable...especially when I'm trying to sleep. Luckily it's not a constant thing. But...I'm still not getting a whole lot of uninterrupted sleep. 

We had a pretty nice weekend. Friday night we had leftover vegetable beef soup and watched Reacher. Usually we watch it on Thursdays...but on Thursday I thought it was Wednesday until I went to print the postage for my orders after Johnny was already asleep...and Johnny didn't remember either. :P So we watched that Friday night during dinner. I'm sad that there's only one episode left! I think it's definitely my top favorite show. Hopefully we won't have to wait long for a 4th season. 

Then Saturday afternoon we watched Electric State which was pretty good. I liked watching it in the bedroom with the head and the feet of the bed up. I love having an adjustable bed! It's so much more comfy than the couch. :) Plus the dogs lay down and relax on the bed (thank goodness it's a king size!) instead of constantly moving around between us and chasing the cats. Anyway...Saturday evening we ordered some Chinese for dinner and watched Bert Kreischer's new comedy special on Netflix. It was pretty good...but the end of it was pretty sad! He talked about how they had someone come to their house to put their dog down. I was fine until he started getting tears in his eyes...then *I* started getting tears in my eyes. :P 

Sunday was a really productive day. I just worked all day printing, cutting, and packaging orders to be mailed out today. Johnny gave the dogs a bath...so they smell all nice and clean again. He got a few things done around the yard and the house that he's been wanting to get to. 

And tonight I made Cheez-It Chicken Fried Steak for dinner. We hadn't had it in awhile and Johnny thought it sounded good. I make it in the air fryer...it's super quick and easy. If I didn't have my air fryer and pressure cookers...I definitely wouldn't cook as much as I do. I love things that are quick and easy...and still taste amazing. Of all appliances that could go out...our oven is the one that I would still be able to make dinner with no problem. Ironically, it's the only appliance in this house that we haven't replaced. LOL. We've even replaced the fridge twice! lol. 

Work is going pretty well so far this year. While it had slowed down after December (which is generally expected), I'm still doing better than I did compared to the same timeframe last year. I had 100 orders in January and then it slowed a bit to only 78 orders in February. March started out about the same as February...but it's picked up quite a bit in the last week. I'm already at 91 orders for the month so far and there's still a whole week left. My revenue has already surpassed by revenue in January, too. And I'm only 4 sales away from 2150 in my CandiMakerStickers Etsy shop! I had a large order for twenty 4" magnets of my "He is Risen" design...so that helped a lot. I'm still so glad that I went through all my listing photos and changed them to show sticker or magnet...because I get a lot more magnet orders now. During slower times, I've been working on new designs as well as revamping designs that hadn't been doing as well. I'm still loving being able to work from home doing something I love. :) I consider myself very lucky! 

Oh! And I forgot that I wanted to update on the Litter Robot situation. Angel still LOVES it and uses it exclusively. The boys? They're still using the old litterbox. BUT...Milo--who was *very* afraid of the Litter Robot and started out not even wanting to go into the cat room at all--has been getting more and more interested in it. He hasn't been getting IN it, but he'll stand on the step and look in it. He likes watching it and will often interrupt it mid-cycle multiple because it stops cycling whenever a cat is on the step in front of it. It'll stop and then he'll sit back and wait...just to stop it again as soon as it starts. So while he's using it...I do think it's good progress that he's gone from scared to curious! Leo used it a few times in the beginning...but as soon as I put the old litterbox back out (because Milo was scared) Leo has been using only the old litterbox again. So...still working on it, but hopefully the boys will eventually prefer a clean bathroom. *fingers crossed*  

Well...I need to get some things done before I go to bed. I hope everyone has a good week! 

Already March?!

It kinda feels like this year so far is going by both fast and slow. :P It's hard to believe it's March already...but with all the craziness going on, it also feels like it's hard to believe it's only March. :P 

The last few days I've been able to sleep for more than 2-3 hours at a time...so that's progress! Right now my biggest complaint is my shoulder. I don't know if it's a pinched nerve or what the exact problem is. I know it a nerve is involved somehow...because I'm getting numbness/tingling in my hand. I've tried taking ibuprofen, my Tramadol, and my Gabapentin (for nerve pain) and nothing seems to be helping. Tonight I remembered that I have my TENS unit...which I got almost 30 years ago for back pain caused by my scoliosis. So I decided to try that on my shoulder and see if it helps. While it isn't making the pain go away...while the TENS unit is on, I don't notice the pain as much. So it's providing a little bit of relief and I'm at least thankful for that. 

I forgot to mention that I hit 2000 sales in my CandiMakerStickers Etsy shop on February 20th! So that's always exciting. My total orders for February were less than the number of orders I got last February...but I had higher income this February than last February. The higher income is largely because I've sold a lot more magnets which are a higher price point. 

While sales have been a bit slower lately, I've been trying to work on SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and making some new designs. I'd had a few designs already created, but hadn't gotten around to photographing them. But I finally took pictures after I printed and cut all the new designs. I had 30 new designs and 3 existing designs that I hadn't photographed yet. I got them all printed and cut on Thursday and then photographed them all yesterday. Today I've worked off and on cropping the photos and working on the listing images. I'm hoping tomorrow I'll be able to get all the listings uploaded. It's been so long since I uploaded new general sticker designs...so I really enjoyed working on them. 

And on that note...I'm going to work on them a little more before I go to bed. :) 

It's been a busy day!

Today we celebrated my grandpa's 90th birthday! We had his party at the library here in town. They have a really big community room that we've used for several big group gatherings. I think it's pretty affordable for the size, too. 

My mom and sister did most of the planning and decor. I printed the invitations and mailing labels, printed 600 pieces of confetti (images printed on cardstock and die-cut in 2" and 1" sizes with my Cricut), and the water bottle labels that I printed on glossy sticker paper and laminated. I've learned that I do NOT like putting labels on water bottles. LOL! The difficult part is trying to get them on straight...it was a lot more difficult than I anticipated. :P Luckily my mom came over on Thursday and helped me get all the labels on there. Then yesterday my mom and sister set up a lot of the decorations. There were a lot of backdrops, balloons, and centerpiece decorations. There was also a table set up for the guestbook, multiple tables that had display boards with photos behind photos that were laid out on the table, and several tables set up for the food. We had meat and sides from Hog Wild as well as sandwiches, wraps, and fruit trays from McAlisters. 

It was a WSU themed party. My grandpa graduated from there and they attend a lot of their sporting events. We requested that everyone where yellow and black for pictures...and there were a lot of people in WSU gear! We'd gone to a local sports store on Monday and got Johnny a hoodie and a ball cap. Most of my WSU apparel (I also graduated from WSU) is pretty old and ratty looking...but mom had a hoodie that she got in a size smaller than she likes wearing, so I wore that. It was super soft and comfy so...now it's mine. ;) 

We were able to get some new family pictures...much like we did when we had grandma and grandpa's anniversary party in 2021. We were able to get a large group family photo as well. 

We also had a surprise guest! My sister--who *hates* people in full-body costumes that cover their head--was able to get the WSU mascot, Wu, to make an appearance. :) It was really neat and the guy did a great job. Naturally...his energy was like that from a sporting event...but in a much quieter room with about 40 people. My sister was battling anxiety...but I was battling autism. lol. As a neurodivergent person...I'm very uncomfortable with awkward silence. I already don't like when people don't keep up their side of the conversation...and Wu doesn't talk, he pantomimes. Yeah...I don't know what to do with that. lol. But he did a great job. My sister's friend who is a photographer was there to take photos...and she had Wu walk around the room and kinda photo bomb people. It was cute. And Wu also signed the guestbook which I thought was really cool. He walked around looking at the pictures and admiring the decorations (like...pointing them out and clapping or giving a thumbs up, etc). So it was just really neat to have him there. 

We stayed to clean up after the party. I was wiped out from printing and cutting all the confetti last night and then waking up early and helping load stuff...so I actually ended up taking a nap after I got home. :P I think tomorrow I'm going to take the day off and just relax. I do have some orders that I need to work on, but it shouldn't take too long to get done before I go to bed tomorrow so they can go out in the mail Monday. :) 

Why is the weekend so short? :(

It feels like the weekdays go by so dang slow...then the weekend goes by way too fast! Luckily this weekend is a three day weekend...so at least we get one extra day. It's supposed to snow tomorrow. They're calling for, like, 4-8 inches so we'll see how much we actually get. Thankfully Johnny and I both work from home, so we don't really have to get out in it. :P 

I'm finally feeling better as far as my sore throat, but I still feel out of sorts and super tired all the time. But I think I'm having problems sleeping more because of pain from my chronic health issues and perimenopause crap rather than from being sick. I can only sleep for 2-3 hours at a time but then I wake up and have a hard time getting back to sleep. When I am finally able to get back to sleep...I'm still up again 2-3 hours later. I've never been a person who really takes naps...but apparently that has changed in 2025. :P Hopefully my sleep schedule will get back to normal soon. 

The night before last I didn't sleep at all! Darn ol' Milo puked on my side of the bed...so I had to wait for Johnny to get up and then wash all the bedding. It takes FOREVER to wash all the sheets and blankets from our king size bed. I slept for about 3 hours and then had to grab some stuff from mom. Then I laid back down...but about an hour later I woke up to Johnny telling me that my dad was calling because grandma's thermostat wasn't working. So we got around to drove over to grandma's. We weren't planning on taking the dogs...but Nova darted out the door and wouldn't come back in the house so we took them with us. :P They like going to grandma's though and they're always good puppies at her house. Grandma's thermostat was all messed up...none of the buttons worked so we couldn't turn the heat down from 90 degrees, turn it from heat to AC, turn the fan on or off...nothing. Tried taking out the batteries...and that didn't change anything. The only thing that worked on it was the reset button...but then the heat was just off completely because we couldn't do anything after we reset it. So mom stopped by Walmart to grab a new thermostat and Johnny replaced it for Grandma. She just has a cheapie one for now, but I think eventually we'll get her a thermostat like we have that can be controlled by both the control panel and with an app on your phone. Then mom could see what's going on with Grandma's thermostat from her phone to maybe troubleshoot anything going on without having to drive all the way to her house. But for now...at least her house isn't 90 degrees anymore! Of course, even at the 75 degrees she likes to keep it at, that's still too hot for me! :P 

And despite only getting 4 interrupted hours of sleep...I didn't get to bed last night until way later than normal. But...since I didn't really get anything else done yesterday except washing the bedding, I put all my orders into my spreadsheet and got everything ready to print, cut, and package today so all my orders can go out in the morning. I have 16 orders so far since Friday between both of my Etsy shops plus my eBay. The first part of February was pretty slow, but it's been picking up a bit now. And I'm still doing better this month so far compared to last year. By this point in the month last year, I only had 22 orders...this year I have 45. So hopefully I'll pass the 60 orders I had for the month of February 2024. :) 

I've also been busy this month working on stuff for my Grandpa's 90th birthday party. I made the invitations earlier in the month and now I'm making labels for the water bottles and some large "confetti" to decorate the tables like I did for the girls' graduation party. 

Our refrigerator seems to be working fine again. We discovered on Monday that when the repair guys were here on Friday, they didn't hook the water line back up after they left. So our ice maker was completely out of ice on Monday. I gotta say...I'm not super impressed with Rick's Appliance Service after having to wait 3 weeks for it to actually be fixed...plus not hooking the water line back up. But hopefully we won't have any more issues with the fridge so it won't be a big deal. *crosses fingers*

Oh and I figured out that it's actually my TMJ in my jaw that is causing the issues with my ears. Sometimes it's pain, but most of the time it's more the feeling of pressure in my ears...like when you're on a plane and you feel like your ears need to pop. It seems like I just keep collecting chronic health issues. :P And pretty much all of them are caused by or a comorbidity of hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. Apparently hEDS is the "gift" that keeps on giving. :P 

Johnny and I finished Season 2 of Night Agent pretty quick. Now he's watching The Killing with me. We're excited for Season 3 of Reacher to be released on Thursday! I even have it written on the dry-erase calendar that we have in the kitchen. ;) 

Well...I better get back to work! I hope everyone is having a good February so far! 

February Update

Well...I'm STILL not feeling 100% after getting sick at the beginning of January. I still have a bad sore throat off and on, a dry cough (especially at night), and occasionally an earache. At first just my right ear was hurting so I thought maybe the pain in my jaw was causing my ear to hurt...but this week my left ear has been hurting, too, and that side of my jaw doesn't hurt. I'm not sure why everything keeps lingering. My sleep is all messed up, too. I've been super tired and end up going to bed earlier than normal...just to wake up 2-4 hours later. I've even been taking a nap frequently during the day...but I'm still tired all the time. 

I think part of the reason why I keep waking up--other than the cough--are the lovely night sweats of perimenopause. I'm so over it. We keep the bedroom really cold...but it actually seems to make it worse. It's like...because I'm cuddling under the blanket, it makes me too hot. I might talk to my doctor the next time we're there and see if trying HRT would help. 

FINALLY got the fridge fixed. Our freezer stopped working on January 20th. The first time they came out was January 24th. He said there was a freon leak (and he's not certified to work with freon so someone else had to come with him) and the compressor and evaporator needed to be replaced. The guy told Johnny it'd only take a day or two to get the parts...but apparently they didn't come in until Johnny called on February 3rd. Then they couldn't get out to our house to fix the fridge until today. I'm glad it wasn't any later...because the refrigerator section started losing cooling yesterday. They were here for just over 2 hours this morning. Bozley hid in the bedroom with me while they were here...he's not a fan of strangers. Every once in awhile he'd go to the doorway to see what's going on...but most of the time he just laid on the bed making little growly barks. Nova laid in the hallway behind the gate watching them work. They set the smoke detector (twice) and that freaked Nova out. They had to weld something together...something about they use an aluminum something or other now and it's common for it to break down. They went ahead and replaced the compressor (I don't know if they replaced the evaporator) too. So far it seems to be working again.  

January and February have been kinda slow for work. It was the same last year, too. But...I had only 35 orders in January last year versus 100 orders for January this year. And for the first 7 days in February last year, I had 6 orders and I've already had 14 orders so far this February. Last February picked up more during the second half of the month, so hopefully it'll be the same for this year. I'm honestly kinda glad for a bit of a break at the moment since I haven't been feeling well. 

Oh! The dogs went to the groomer! They are so soft and smell so good. :) And no more grinch toes! 

Well...I think that's about all for now.