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! 

Busy, Busy!

Thursdays have been my "slower" days so far in December. I've been getting 6-12 orders per day since the Tuesday before Thanksgiving...but last Thursday I had 4 orders and today I've only had 3 orders. So while things are a little slower today, I'm working on some more designs. I have a lot more custom name stickers that I want to get listed...but I've been so busy lately making and packaging orders that it's been hard to find time to work on them. I'm not complaining though! I'm to the point now where I'm making as much money with CandiMaker as I was when I was working part-time outside the home. As of today, I already have 97 orders for December. Last month I had 115 orders total for the month...and my record is 137 in July 2024. The first 13 days in July, I had 57 orders...while I had 58 orders in just the first 7 days of December. So hopefully the pace continues and I'll set a new record this month! :) 

I'm loving the new Litter Robot. I set it up the day it arrived. Milo used it right after I first put the litter in...before I even turned it on! It's been hit and miss since then, though. I still have their regular litterbox in there, but it's not getting used as much. I also got a cheap $20 indoor security camera that I'm going to set up so I can see what's going on down there without having to go down and look. :P Because when I go downstairs, they stop whatever they were doing before I started walking downstairs. That have to run to the bottom of the stairs and watch me walk down...so then it's just a wasted trip. :P lol. 

I also used one of our new sauce pots tonight! They're Carote white granite pots and pans. We got the 21 piece set that had the grill pan instead of the egg pan. Tuesday I cleaned out the cabinet where we keep all the pots and pans. I boxed up all the old ones and put away the new ones after I washed them all. It's so much more organized down there without a whole bunch of random pots and pans. 

So far, I really like the new pots and pans. They're very non-stick which is the main thing I wanted...something easy to clean. I made country gravy and it heated really well. The only complaint I have so far is the fact that the two largest sauce pans (4.5 and 5.5 quart) don't have a handle on both sides. They're pretty lightweight, but I already have issues with my wrists separating, so I'll have to use my silicone glove thing to hold both sides when pouring and stuff. They're also not specifically mentioned to be dishwasher safe...but if the non-stick is good enough, that's not a problem. Overall, they're much better than the old pots and pans we had. :) 

Well...I'm going to get some more work done before I go to bed. Hope everyone has a good weekend! 

Overdue update!

I just realized that I hadn't posted in over a month! November has been pretty busy, though!

We had a nice, relaxing Thanksgiving. It was just Johnny and I again this year. All the kids had their own things going on. I'd considered hosting my family again this year (we'd done it in 2014 and 2019) but it's always so stressful and I just wasn't up for it this year. It never fails...whenever we have people over for Thanksgiving, things don't go smoothly at all. :P We typically make a bigger turkey which ties up the oven for a long time. Then other things don't seem to get done in time. One year I turned on the crockpot for the mac n cheese...only to discover that it hadn't been plugged in. :P There's just so much going on at once and lots of people in the kitchen...it feels like chaos. But this year we had zero deadline for when anything had to be done...and I got it all done at relatively the same time without trying very hard. :P I didn't even bake the breads the night before like I usually do. And with fewer people eating, I just make turkey breasts in the pressure cooker instead of a whole turkey in the oven. It only takes about an hour and I don't even have to thaw them first. 

Work has also been super busy this month. Sales were slow during the first part of November...but they picked up A LOT starting the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. I ended up breaking my previous record for total orders (from both Etsy shops and eBay) in one week (Sunday to Saturday)...which was 36 orders. The week of Thanksgiving, I had 45 orders! I actually ran out of the glassine bags that I use for packaging before my new ones were set to arrive. Luckily Amazon got them here pretty quick so none of my orders were late going out. I love being busy, though! :)  

During the slow part of early November, I used the downtime to make some new custom name designs using individual letter graphics and got a lot of them listed before I got busy. I even sold some of the new designs in the last week. :) I still have more letter designs that I want to make...but I'll have to wait for some more down time. 

Most of my recent sales have been for magnets...which are largely made to order instead of keeping them in stock. They're more expensive to make than my stickers so I don't want to have a lot of unsold inventory. I do try keep a couple of the popular ones on hand...which at the moment are my spreadsheet design and the flamingo design that says "Don't make me put my foot down." Since 11/26, I've had 68 orders and 36 of those orders were for magnets. I'm really glad that I changed my listing photos to make it clear that each design can be a magnet or sticker...because it has greatly increased the amount of magnet orders since then. 

While I'm working, I usually binge watch shows that I've already seen...that way I don't have to really pay attention to it. I just look up at the TV to see my favorite parts. It's my emotional support background noise. ;) I'd been watching a lot of 24 and then switched to Virgin River. I really wish December 19th would get here so I can watch Season 6. There's not a whole lot of episodes to binge watch Virgin River...so I've gone through it several times now just in the last few weeks. :P And then last night when Johnny and I were getting ready to eat dinner, I noticed that Martin Henderson was in the photo for the Australian TV miniseries, Secrets and Lies. So I decided to watch that last night after I was done working. I watched all 6 episodes...largely to see if my prediction was correct about about who the killer was (and it was...I'm generally pretty good at predicting TV shows and movies). It was a good show, though. I think the rest of the week I'm going to switch to Reacher. That's another show with an upcoming season that I'm excited for! It's probably my favorite current show right now.

Ooh! We're waiting for my birthday present to get here! :) We ordered the Whisker Litter Robot 4 during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday says. So I'm hoping that really works out well. It's supposed to arrive Thursday. We also picked out our Christmas present...which was a new set of non-stick ceramic cookware. That'll definitely be nice...since I've been using the same pots and pans (aside from a few new pieces here and there) that I bought in 2005 (and my pasta pot is from 2003). LOL. My favorite large 5qt sauté pan definitely needed to be replaced. So hopefully the new set will be good. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out which set to get. :P 

Well...I should probably get some more work done before I go to bed. 

Over already?!

I thought I'd posted again in October...but apparently not. And now October is already over! It's hard to believe it's already November...soon the year will be over. Right now I'm just ready for this dang election to be over. I used to love politics. I loved learning about all the candidates and debating the issues. I was in middle school arguing with adults on AOL message boards about politics. I wanted to BE a politician until I realized it was mostly BS lobbying instead of just working to make the world a better place. Well...that and in high school I realized during a very unfortunate student council election that I have a fear of public speaking. :P lol. But now? Just get rid of this shitshow. I'm over it. I still have very strong opinions about the issues...but I'm just so exhausted by all the lies and conspiracy theories. I'm a person who shows up with receipts. I'll show you exactly where I got the numbers from and cite my sources for information...I believe in transparency and FACTUAL information. But people out there are clinging to confirmation bias like it's a security blanket. And I just really, really don't like the direction some people are wanting to take this country and their inability to see the writing on the wall. But...I digress. 

So anyway... still loving the new fridge! It definitely feels like we have a lot more room than the old fridge. I like having two doors that open when we have casserole dishes going in and out of the fridge or large pizza boxes. And it's so nice having a working ice maker again...as well as a working fridge in general! LOL. But all three of us (me, Aubry, and Johnny) have randomly said "I really like this new fridge" a few times. We did spend a little more than we were originally planning to when we were considering just replacing our old fridge with another side-by-side fridge. The French door was a bit more expensive...but I like it a lot better. And the weekend after getting the new fridge, Johnny and I were able to get the old fridge out of the kitchen ourselves. We took off the doors and that made a big difference in weight...so it was a lot easier to manage. We ended up putting it in the garage for now. I'm not sure what we'll ultimately end up doing with it, but I'm just glad that it's out of the kitchen. :P 

We celebrated my birthday last weekend. We went to Village Inn for dinner with my mom, my grandparents, Aubry and her boyfriend (Ashlyn and her boyfriend already had plans). We were talking about getting ready to leave when the waitress ended up bringing Johnny another iced tea. Grandma said something about getting a to-go cup, but Johnny said he'd just drink it really fast. While Johnny was drinking it, Grandpa made the comment that the tea looked weak, and Johnny started to laugh but he had a mouthful of tea so he had to stop himself and hold the tea in his mouth so he didn't spit it out at Grandpa who was sitting across from him. Johnny made a comment about almost spitting out his tea at Grandpa and then Grandpa said he was just making an observation and started laughing *so hard* that he was crying. He took off his glasses and covered his face with his hands...I don't think I'd ever seen him laugh so hard in my life. And of course we all started laughing, because it's one of those things where it's just contagious. We all laughed so hard for probably a good five straight minutes. It was so funny. Definitely makes for a good birthday memory. :)

Then after dinner, we went over to my grandparents' house to play Hand and Foot. Aubry had a Halloween party to go to so it was just my grandparents, mom, then me and Johnny. We had an odd number of people so we couldn't play teams like we usually do. So we played individually with 5 people, which we'd never done before. It ended up taking longer to play, but it was pretty fun. There were actually two rounds where I had a book of deuces (which are wild cards)...the first was a clean book and the second was a dirty book (dirty has jokers). It wasn't intentional either time...I just kept drawing them and didn't have enough regular cards to match them with. But the bad thing is that BOTH of those hands...someone else went out before I was able to get into my foot. :P So while I got a lot of points for the book of deuces, all the cards I had left in my hand subtracted a lot of points, too. :P I ended up finishing exactly in the middle. My grandpa was first, Johnny beat me by FIVE POINTS, then mom, and then Grandma came in last. It was a fun night though. It was actually 10:30pm by the time Johnny and I got in the car to home. The dogs were definitely excited when we got home! Bozley has quite a bit of separation anxiety so he really whines and cries and freaks out when we get home. Nova gets excited too...but I also think she was wanting us to hurry up and give her dinner. ;) 

Work has been going well! Last night before I went to bed, I updated my spreadsheets for the month of October. Each month I make sure I have all my receipts entered and update my Profit/Loss worksheet for the month. October 2024 has been my highest monthly profit since opening CandiMaker by more than $300. It wasn't my month of highest orders (I had 137 in July and only 105 in October) but my profit in October was more than $385 higher than July. Part of that is customers making orders with larger quantities. In July, I had several orders with 4, 5, and one order with 6 stickers...but in October I had one order each with a quantity of 15, 20, 25, and 50. Each of those orders except the one with 15 stickers only count as one "sale" in my shop since they ordered that quantity of the same item, but they definitely increased the profit of those orders. The order of 25 was actually for 4" magnets! I think I mentioned this before, but I'm getting a lot more magnet sales now that I've changed my listing photos to say "sticker or magnet" on the main listing photo...and they have a higher price point than my stickers. Oh! And I also got my first bestseller in my CandiMakerStickers Etsy shop! I noticed today that my spreadsheet design had the bestseller badge on it. :) That's always nice to see. 

I'm also excited about more product ideas that I am working on. I have a couple ideas for both my sticker shop as well as my planner shop. And on that note...I'm gonna get back to work! :) 

Well...we have a new fridge. :P

After the the delivery guys Lowes sent not arriving during the delivery time they gave us, not actually bringing the fridge into the house and installing it like they were supposed to, little Ashlyn and her boyfriend helping us get it into the kitchen, and Johnny getting 3 stitches in his wrist after slicing it along the bottom of the fridge exactly where I told him I wasn't going to hold to lift it because it was sharp...we have a new refrigerator. :P It took more time taking off all the tape and plastic than it did at the ER, surprisingly. And then we had to wait awhile for it to get down to the correct temperatures. I was going to rearrange the shelves that night, but I was just too tired after all the heavy lifting and excitement. :P  

But once it was down to the right temperature, I made a small grocery order to replace some of the things we had to throw away and get some things for cheesy chicken chili that I'm going to make. I decided to go ahead and adjust the shelves while I was putting the food away. That way I had a better idea of how much space we needed and where to put everything. Even though the whole thing is just slightly smaller than our previous refrigerator, we actually have more cubic feet of space inside. We got our side-by-side because it was one of the few that had the ice maker in the door and there was more space in the freezer compared to other models...but it feels like we have a lot more space now with the drawer. We don't have all the little bins that were in the freezer door of the side-by-side, but the space makes up for it. Our freezer was pretty much full (and was still working so we didn't have to throw anything away), and you can see in the picture that everything we still have space leftover in the new freezer drawer. And I think the way I have everything set up in the fridge section really makes use of the room. Almost an entire 24-pack of bottled water fit in the space that I put it in by the ice maker. Some of the bins in the door on the side with the water/ice dispenser are smaller than most condiment containers, but that's the only complaint I have so far...and that's pretty minor. Oh and there are two tiny "condiment bins" at the very bottom...which you basically have to bend over to see below the other door bins that stick out farther. It seems as though they were like...what should we do with this wasted space? lol. But the one on the right, I ended up not installing the little bin cover thing because our fridge is right up against the wall so we can't open the right door further than 90 degrees, and the deli drawer kinda rubbed on the bin divider thing. But that's more of a complaint about how our kitchen was designed. :P I just left the divider thing off for now. I didn't really have anything to put down there anyway. Overall I'm super happy with it. I also love the tall space available for the water/ice dispenser. Our last fridge wouldn't even fit a 32oz cup under there...I'm pretty sure this one would fit a 40oz cup or those tall water bottles. 

Now we just have to figure out what we're going to do with the old fridge and get it out of the kitchen. :P We'll probably wait until the weekend to deal with it. 

Oh and I forgot...the blood from Johnny cutting himself is still all over the front steps. Aubry got home from work before we got back from the ER. So she put her skeleton out front...now the blood is just part of a Halloween decoration. ;) I do wonder what the delivery guy thought when he dropped off the Walmart grocery order. LOL. :P 

Other than that, I've just been busy working. I did take the day off when we were dealing with the new refrigerator...so my Etsy shop has actually been slow since then. But I have a 1-3 processing time, so that way I do have a little bit of time to get orders out when things come up. The next day I was able to print, cut, and package all my orders for Aubry to drop off the following day. She's my shipper. I package my orders before I go to bed and put them in the mail holder by the door, then she grabs them on her way out the door and drops off all the orders at the post office on her way to work in the mornings. And she usually goes to her boyfriend's house on Saturdays, so a lot of times I'll have her drop off orders on Saturdays too. So it works out really well. :) But today I've gotten caught up on some little things. I've printed more of my packaging stickers and folders and reorganized some of my storage drawers...things like that. And after I finished that, I started working on some new designs. :)  

But...now I should probably get started on making dinner. It'll be the first night I've actually made dinner since the fridge went out! We'd been just living on Door Dash and heating things up from the freezer. :P 

Ohhhhh my goodness...

Well the score is now Skunks: 2, Dogs: 0. Boz and Nova were sprayed the first time at the end of June...and last night they were sprayed AGAIN. I've lived here for almost 12 years and we NEVER had an issue with the dogs being sprayed...and now it's happened twice in the same year! We took the peroxide, baking soda, and dishsoap outside to coat the dogs and then brought them in the house to give them a bath. Nova wasn't as bad as Bozley was...she barely has any smell left but you can still smell the skunk a bit on Bozley's face. 

So...that's super frustrating. :P 

And last week our fridge stopped cooling AGAIN. We emptied everything out of it and defrosted the frozen fan again, but it still wasn't cooling below 40 degrees. And unlike the last time this happened, the temperature on the control panel showed that it was the right temperature the whole time. Even after we defrosted it, it was still showing a lower temperature than it actually was. We've been having problems with this fridge for awhile...it was the first big purchase we made together back in 2014. It's a Samsung and the first few years, it was great. We even started replacing the rest of the appliances with Samsung...until we started having issues with the fridge, dishwasher, and dryer. :P Luckily we hadn't replaced the stove yet...so it's the one appliance that isn't Samsung. The ice maker in the freezer hasn't worked for many years...and the "fix" from Samsung was to buy a whole freezer door. We just dealt with not having an ice maker. :P 

But we don't want to keep emptying, moving, and defrosting the fridge...so we just decided to get a new one. We've had to wait an entire week for it to be delivered though...so that's been not fun. Luckily...it'll be delivered tomorrow! Hopefully it all goes smoothly. Sunday we cleaned up the kitchen and got everything moved off the fridge. It looks weird not having all the magnets and everything on there! Johnny originally had a regular white fridge with a top freezer. Then we got the Samsung side-by-side fridge. Now we're going to have a French door fridge with the bottom drawer freezer. We went with Frigidaire instead of Samsung...so hopefully it's better! :P 

Other than that, I've just been busy with work! I ended September as my most profitable month so far. Since changing my listing photos to specifically state "sticker or magnet" I've been getting more magnet orders, which has boosted my profit. So even though I got 137 orders in July and 119 in August, I still had higher profit in September even though I only had 109 orders. I've also been getting more large orders lately. Over the weekend I got an order for 50 stickers, so that was exciting! :) And I love my repeat customers! I have a couple wonderful customers who have placed several orders for my custom text stickers and magnets...and it always makes my day when I see one of their orders pop up on my phone. :) I've also had a couple orders already for my new kitchen magnets that I listed last month. 

But...I should probably get some more done before Johnny gets off work. I hope everyone has a good week!

Fall?!

Well...in my last post I said that I was ready for fall...todaywe kinda had fall! In typical Kansas fashion, yesterday it was 100 degrees and today the high was 67 or something. I think it's supposed to be in the 70s and 80s over the next couple weeks. 

September has been a rough month, to say the least. 

My Uncle Billy's service was on September 9th. He passed away on August 17th and then he had a memorial service at the federal cemetery in Winfield. He and I were very close when I was growing up. He always called me his baby. I was the first born of all my cousins and Billy was even living with my mom and dad for awhile. So I was the one he was around the most. He joined the Navy when I was a kid so we didn't get to see him much after that. But when I was about 11, my mom took us on vacation to spend three weeks with him in Chula Vista, California. His wife at the time was pregnant with their second child...their first was just a toddler. We saw all the sights from Hollywood to San Diego and even took a day to go down to Tijuana, Mexico. It was an amazing time that I've always cherished. It was also the first time I tried blueberry Eggos which I ended up having almost every morning...and since then, the smell has always reminds me of that vacation. He came back to Kansas a few times over the years, but usually not for very long. He always saw me whenever he was in town, though. The summer of 1996, he was in town and he let me drive his brand new hunter green Ford Taurus SHO when I was getting my learners permit. After that, I wanted a car just like his (ended up buying an older white Ford Taurus a couple years later from a family friend, actually, but it wasn't on purpose). He also came back through town in December 1998. He tapped on my bedroom window and it was dark so I didn't see him at first...but when my eyes adjusted, I just saw this face staring back at me and it scared the crap out of me. Now I don't look out windows in the dark anymore. :P We ate some Hawaiian pizza at Pizza Hut...because I was the only other person who would eat pineapple on my pizza. Billy did end up coming back home to Kansas in 2019 after retiring from the Navy. Shortly after he got back, I went with him to the DMV to get his truck registered. I remember him being so surprised that the background on my phone was pink...because he knew my favorite color was blue and that's why his favorite color has always been blue. That's just the kind of relationship we had. But his health started to decline and it got pretty bad the last couple years. 

And then on the 13th, tragedy struck. Johnny's daughter, Ashlyn, lost her husband and 11-year-old stepson in a very bad car accident. Randall and Eli had gone to Wichita to pick something up and a woman was driving the wrong way on the highway and crashed into them head-on. All three died at the scene. Ashlyn and Randall were married in 2014. Ashlyn had a daughter from her previous marriage and then Randall had two sons...and they had a son together. They've had custody of Randall's sons throughout their marriage...so Ashlyn has raised those boys since they were toddlers. So the loss of both Randall and Eli has been devastating. Johnny spent much of that first weekend at Ashlyn's house until her mom arrived in town on Sunday. The memorial service will be next weekend.  

So yeah...things have been tough lately. :( 

We did celebrate (little) Ashlyn's birthday this weekend. It's hard to believe my youngest is now in her 20s! We had dinner at Olive Garden with my mom and grandparents. Then afterwards, Johnny went over to my grandparents' house to play cards with everyone. They played Hand & Foot again. I was going to go, but I haven't been feeling well today. My stomach has been bothering me all day. :( But Ashlyn loved that Johnny was there AND it meant they were able to play teams...boys against girls. Johnny, my grandpa, and Ashlyn's boyfriend Joe ended up winning against Ashlyn, my mom, and my grandma. And then tomorrow Ashlyn starts her first day of college! She's going to WSU tech for composite technology. I was surprised by her choice...I figured she would choose something like veterinarian technician. Aubry went for sheet metal mechanic a couple years ago, but I just never really thought Ashlyn would be interested in something like that. But hopefully it will go well! :) 

Aubry is getting ready to deal with her first strike as an aircraft worker. The company she works for...the union voted against the contract and for the strike. So we'll see how that goes. She's a worrier so she's been pretty stressed about the whole thing. It doesn't help that she just recently had some car troubles that she had to pay for so the strike is kinda bad timing for her. :/ 

I've been busy working. I finally got all my listing photos done in my CandiMakerStickers Etsy shop. I also finished listing my newest product lines: kitchen stickers and magnets as well as "Hello I'm" nametag stickers and magnets. I have 5 regular "Hello I'm" nametag stickers and magnets where I've designed them with a phrase that I've chosen...but I also have listings where customers can make custom tags with their own names or phrases. So I'm excited about getting those things accomplished. I've wanted to get those things done for awhile and I always like getting things crossed off my list. I still have SO many other things I want/need to do...but every little bit helps. :) 

On that note...I want to get some more stuff done before I go to bed. I hope everyone has a good week! 

I'm ready for fall!

September is here...but I'm ready for the fall weather to be here! We're going to have a few days of 80s temperatures, but still some days in the 90s. I'm so tired of the heat. UGH. I'd really rather have 70s all year. :P But...I suppose 80s and low 90s are better than temps in the 100s. There might be a thunderstorm tomorrow afternoon, but we'll see. Usually the storms tend to miss us...except for the one that took out our fence! We also had a storm on the 25th that I don't think was in the forecast...just popped up. They ended up canceling the air show because there was some damage at the base. So unfortunately mom didn't get to come watch. But in a couple years when they have the next air show, I think I'll have her come out on Thursday or Friday when they practice...because it seems like they flew by our house a lot more during practice. 

But in other news...our fence is done! They came out last Thursday to tear out the old fence and set the posts, then on Friday they placed all the pickets. I wasn't *super* impressed with him, but they did a decent enough job and I'm just glad that we have a fence again. Johnny liked him. And they did get the job done quickly, so I liked that part. Eventually we want to replace the back fence and the gate, but that'll have to wait awhile. 

Work has been good...busy! I had 119 orders in August (compared to 137 orders in July), but I did break my record for the most orders in one day. Previously my record was 9, but I had 13 orders on August 31st! I didn't work on orders during the holiday from Friday-Sunday...and I ended up having 24 orders go out on Tuesday morning! That's been the most orders I've had go out at one time...so that was pretty exciting. :) And I'm almost finished updating all the listings photos in my CandiMakerStickers Etsy shop...so that has felt pretty productive. I also think having my main listing photo that now says "sticker or magnet" is boosting magnet sales. I've noticed a slight increase in magnet sales since updating the listings...although it could just be coincidental. I'm also working on some new kitchen magnet/stickers that I hope to have listed by the end of the weekend. Hopefully they'll do well. :) 

On that note...I'm going to try to get some more work done before I go to bed. 

What a week!

So...it's been kinda hectic around here lately. I'm still busy with work, of course, because I'm always busy with work. :P 

But also...last Wednesday we had two sections of our fence blow down in a storm. :P Usually the storm misses us...it either dies down before it gets here or it goes north/south of us. But Wednesday night it actually hit us (actually...it was really early Thursday morning but whatever). Anyway...there was a lot of wind and I was worried about the outdoor umbrella we have on the table blowing away because I forgot to tie it down. By the time I thought about it, there was already a ton of close lightning and it was pouring down rain...so I just went to bed thinking about the fact that I was probably going to wake up and have to search the neighborhood for the umbrella. I woke up to the umbrella still in its big, heavy base with the table just moved a few inches. Instead...the entire west side of the fence was down and a 30 foot section in the middle of the east side of the fence was down. I would've rather gone looking for the umbrella. :P 

So...I spent the next day contacting fence companies on Facebook. Most of them were able to give me a ballpark estimate right away. One guy here in town wanted to actually come look at the fence. He came out on Thursday and said he would shoot us over an estimate. Johnny liked the guy so we were waiting to see what he came up with. I asked the guy on Saturday if he had even a ballpark number ready...he said he'd have it by the end of the weekend. Almost noon on Monday I asked about it again...and he was like...what was the phone number again? Oh yeah...I came and looked at it. Seriously?! Then he finally sent the estimate which was about $2k higher than the highest estimate that we'd already gotten. So we waited all that time for nothing. So I immediately went back to my second choice and Johnny met with him to go over all the details. So hopefully by the end of next week we will have a new fence! Well...at least most of the fence. We're not replacing the north side of the fence yet. Eventually we'll get around to replacing that too...but not right now. 

Luckily we'd put up some metal wire "fencing" attached to the posts on our side of the fence between our yard and the neighbor's to keep our dogs from hitting the fence when barking at the neighbor's dogs...and it stayed up. Then on the other side...right now we just have a long baby gate (the kind you can attach together to make a big octagon playpen) across the other side of the fence. It's really just a suggestion...the dogs could totally just knock it down or jump over it, but luckily they don't. So it's working well enough for now. The fence guy said they'll come out one day and tear down the existing fence and set the posts (so we'll be without a fence at all for that day) then the next day they'll come back and put up the pickets...then it should be all done. Hopefully it all goes smoothly! I'm just so ready for all of it to be done and over with. :P 

We did celebrate our anniversary this past weekend! It's hard to believe that Johnny and I have been back together for 12 years already...and married for 7! But actually...we've been in love with each other for 19 years! It's interesting how the 7 years we were apart seemed to go by so slow but the last 7 years that we've been married have seemed to go by so fast. Funny how time seems to work like that. But we celebrated our anniversary with a lowkey weekend at home...just the way we like it! We used DoorDash to order Johnny a big cheeseburger from Applebees and I was in the mood for breakfast from Village Inn (usually we just pick one place but we splurged and each got what we wanted). We also got a slice of Lemon Supreme pie to share. :) We used to do that all the time but we hadn't gotten it in forever! And we watched a couple more episodes of Once Upon a Time. We're almost halfway through Season 4 now. Rumple is still my favorite character by far. There was a point when he "died" and I had to check and make sure he was still listed in the cast for the rest of the seasons because neither one of us wanted to keep watching the show if he wasn't going to be in it anymore. :P Our second favorite character is Hook...but I like Snow and Charming as well. I don't know though...there's just something I love about Robert Carlyle and his portrayal of Rumple. 

This weekend is the air show. We live not far from the Air Force base here so we can see them practicing and a lot of the aerial show from our backyard. This year, the Blue Angels are performing. It's the first time they've been back since 2007, I think. The rest of the years it's been the Thunderbirds. Yesterday around 3pm, the Blue Angels went by SUPER close next to the house. I didn't have my phone ready to take video...so I missed it. :( I was hoping they'd be there around the same time today...so I waited outside hoping to get video this time. I got a video of them going across the sky above the neighbor's house but they were pretty far away. Then the neighbor started mowing...so I decided to go back in the house for while. And about 15-30 minutes later...I heard them REALLY loud (much louder than the rest of the time we've heard them) so I assume they went right by the house again and I missed it AGAIN. :P But we'll see if they fly by this weekend. Mom is planning on coming over to watch, too. It's nice being able to watch from our house instead of dealing with all the people and traffic. Not to mention the fact that it's going to be over 100 degrees this weekend so it's going to be even hotter on the Tarmac. No thank you! 

But...I should probably get back to work. Hope everyone has a good weekend! 

Always busy!

I've still been super busy working on updating my Etsy shops. It's taking me a long time to get through editing my listing photos. It's going a little smoother now that I've found my groove. 

I decided that I'm going to update my shop my section...I started with my chronic illness stickers since they're my most popular. I also decided that I'm going to wait on my ruler photos. I already have my size comparison photo which shows all three sizes (2", 3", 4") in the same image with a quarter to show real-world size...so the photos with the individual sticker next to the ruler to show size is just supplemental. It was taking a lot longer to get through the photos when I have three additional photos for each design...so I decided I can wait and add those later as I get them done. That way I can get my shop updated without further delay. I've gotten two sections done so far...and I'm working this weekend to get as much done as quickly as possible. I'm hoping it'll be the last weekend I work for awhile. Next weekend is our anniversary so I'm definitely going to take a break and spend some much needed quality time with my husband. It's hard to believe we've been back together for 12 years already and married for 7! :)

I also took a short break last weekend so we could celebrate Johnny's birthday. We went to Village Inn for dinner with my grandparents. Johnny had the All World Triple Cheeseburger which used to be a double. It was pretty funny...another customer at the restaurant was joking with Johnny about his super tall cheeseburger and ended up getting one himself. ;) Mom and I both ordered breakfast. I love their French toast. We didn't save room for pie, though! After dinner we went over to my grandparents' house to play Hand & Foot (I also just learned that it's actually a version of Canasta). 

Oh! And I noticed last week that my custom name labels listing in my CandiMakerPlanners shop has the bestseller badge! It's the first I've noticed for any of my stickers. It just means that I got a lot of orders for it in a short amount of time. I've sold 40 sheets since the middle of June. :) I've marketed them mainly for back-to-school so that's the main reason for their jump in popularity. So that's pretty exciting! 

I don't really have a whole lot to update other than work stuff. We do still make time to have dinner together every night. We've been watching a new show lately, though! Actually...it's a show that I'd started watching before Johnny and I ever started dating but then never watched beyond the first season. I've had Manifest playing in the background while I've been working...and I remembered that Josh Dallas was also in Once Upon a Time. So one day I decided to start watching that again since I never finished it. Johnny was leaning on the back of the couch after work when I was on episode 3 or something...and he started asking questions and got interested in it. So we started over from the beginning. We're already in the middle of Season 3! Rumple is my favorite character. There's just something kind of adorable about him despite being the dark one. lol. Maybe it's the accent. ;) 

Well...I'm going to get back to work. I hope everyone is having a good weekend! :) 

August Already?!

It's hard to believe that it's already August! Of course...the weather is definitely giving August vibes. I'm so tired of this heat. A short thunderstorm came through last night and it felt nice and cool for a short time...but it's hot and humid again today. UGH. 

I started my morning with updating my spreadsheets for the month of July. It was a very good month for CandiMaker. :) I broke my record for the number of orders in one week. My previous record was 34...my new record is 36 for the week of July 14-20. I also broke my record for monthly orders. In June 2024 I had 97 orders...in July 2024 I had 137 orders! I also hit my goal of 1000 sales in my CandiMakerStickers Etsy shop on 7/16/24 (and then I hit 1050 on 7/26/24). So my new goal is 1500 sales by the end of the year. :) 

I've been pretty busy working on making changes in my shop. My mom has been coming out and helping me with taking new product photos. I have new backgrounds and it went so much more smoothly with mom pulling the stickers out of my binder and putting them back. I bought a wooden 3-d watermark and logo ruler that I'm using in my photos...I really like it. :) We got most of the photos taken, now I'm editing them. I finally got Paintshop Pro put on my new laptop so I'm correcting the perspective and cropping the photos and getting the listing photos laid out so they're ready to upload. I'll probably update my shop by section when they're ready. I don't know...haven't quite decided yet. It's a big undertaking, that's for sure. I think I'm really going to like the new "feel" to my shop when it's all done...it's just getting to that point. 

So...back to work! 

Breaking more records!

Last week, I broke my record for the number of orders in one week with 34 orders...and last week I broke my record again with 36 orders! :) I'm pretty sure I'm going to break my record for monthly orders this month too. My record high for orders in one month was 97 last month in June...but I'm already at 96 orders after yesterday and there's still 9 days left in July. :) So I'm pretty excited about that! 

I finally found all the backgrounds that I'm going to be using for my new listing photos. I wanted some images that have real-world textures that also match the colors of my branding...which are peacock/galaxy colors. Our wedding was a peacock theme so that's where it comes from. :) Anyway...I found some images I like...a lot of it has a painted cement look to it. And the one I'm going to be using for my size comparison photo is actually called "Rustic Peacock" which I really liked. :) I got some very white, very smooth 12x18 cardstock and I printed the images then covered them with matte laminate. I'm going to attach them to a piece of sanded plywood that my mom has...making my own photo boards that'll last through constant handling when photographing new items. Mom is coming over this week to help me photograph all my existing designs. It goes so much faster when I can have someone handing me the sets of stickers and putting them back while I'm taking the pictures. So we're going to make a day of it, have lunch together, and just hang out. :) 

I also revamped the infographic listing photos to match my new backgrounds and updated the information. Today I'm working on my main listing images. I'm also going to be updating my listing descriptions and things like that. I hope to have my entire shop completely updated no later than the end of this weekend, but hopefully sooner! I do wish Etsy had a better way to do bulk updates though. :P 

Well...I better get back to work. I have a lot to get done before tomorrow!  

So much!

Things have been pretty busy since the last time I updated. 

At the end of June, the dogs ended up getting sprayed in the face by a skunk for the very first time ever...the day after they'd gotten baths, of course. It was NOT fun AT ALL. So at 10pm, I was mixing together hydrogen peroxide (which luckily we had some on hand), baking soda, and dish soap and Johnny gave the dogs another bath. It helped a lot...but the smell lingered for quite awhile. The dogs and the house are finally back to smelling better now, though. 

Last weekend they got normal baths again. Nova's skin is so sensitive with her allergies and it's been bothering her a lot. We got some new shampoo that seems to be helping. And next week I think we're going to go ahead and take her into the vet to get her an allergy shot. Both her and Bozley are allergic to chicken, but she has environmental allergies as well. They usually start in the spring and ramp up in the summer, but by fall they calm down quite a bit and she does a lot better through the winter. We were able to keep her comfortable without resorting to an allergy shot last year, but her allergies seem to be worse this summer. 

Oh and through the whole skunk situation...I learned something new about my own health issues. Apparently smells can trigger my trigeminal neuralgia AND trigeminal neuralgia can cause you to have a metallic taste sensation in your mouth. Luckily it didn't trigger the nerve pain on top of it too...because that would've just been unbearable. But the whole day after the dogs had gotten sprayed...I was walking around the house tweaking like I was on invisible drugs or something...trying to figure out what the weird sensation in my mouth was from. I was like...did I get skunk oil in my mouth? What am I touching that I keep getting it in my mouth? What's happening? Why isn't it going away? It's like...if nails on a chalkboard had a taste...that'd be it. LOL. That's the only way I know how to describe it...and how irritating it feels. And it lasted for DAYS. 

That's on top of the fact that summer doesn't agree with my health already...and it's been very hot so far this summer. AND going through menopause at the same time with hot flashes is really stupid. The heat started being an issue for me ever since I was pregnant with Aubry and got progressively worse over the years. It triggers my neuropathy and a whole host of other things. It's just exhausting. I'm definitely ready for summer to be OVER. Ugh. I'd love to move somewhere that's just mild 70s year-round. That'd be nice! 

So other than all that, I've been super busy with work. June was my most successful month so far. I ended the month with 97 orders (super bummed that I didn't hit 100...but I'm sure I will soon!) which breaks my previous record of 85 back in March. I also set a new record high for daily orders...nine on June 13th! June was also my highest monthly income and highest monthly profit so far since I started CandiMaker in June 2021...so that's exciting, especially since summer months are usually slower for retail. 

It's been a successful start to July so far. :) I'm already at 58 orders for the month of July and it's not even halfway over yet. At the end of the 13th of last month, I only had 46 orders. So if I can keep up the same pace, hopefully I'll break 100 orders this month! :) And today I broke my record for highest number of orders in one week (measured Sunday to Saturday from all sources including eBay, all my Etsy shops, offsite sales, etc) which was previously 31...I am at 34 orders so far this evening! I'm all about breaking records. :) It's very exciting to see my little business growing and doing well. 

In my CandiMakerStickers Etsy shop, I hit 900 sales on 6/17/24 and then I hit 950 sales on 7/2/24. As of today, I'm already at 987 sales tonight...so I'm sure I'll hit my 1000 goal for the year soon. :) I think my new goal will be to hit 1500 by the end of 2024. Hopefully I can do it! :)

My custom name labels are doing good right now over at CandiMakerPlanners. I had my first sale on June 18th and I've sold 26 more sheets since then! So that's really exciting. :) I also finally finished the school sticker sheets that I'd been working on and got them listed on July 8th. My plan was to have them listed by July 1st...but between the dogs getting sprayed by the skunk and then my health issues flaring up, it just didn't happen as quickly as I'd hoped. And just after midnight this morning...I got my first sale for one of them! :) It always feels good to see a quick return on something I've been excited about. My sister also bought several of them...she was really excited about them! Hopefully they'll do well...I had a lot of fun working on them. I wish I would've had them back when I was in school!  

Etsy has announced some changes on the platform recently. They've made some policy changes...which are mostly clarifications to existing policies. I'm taking the opportunity make some changes to my shop. I'm going to be making changes to listing photos and some other little things here and there. There's also some new products that I'm excited to start working on. Always so much to do! :) 

On that note...I'm going to get back to work. I'm breaking my "no work on the weekend" rule, but I'm in the mood to be productive today so I figure I'll keep the momentum going while I can. :)

Mid-June Update!

Almost halfway through June so I thought I'd post an update...because I had a particularly great day yesterday! :) 

First, this month marks THREE YEARS that I've been running CandiMaker! I opened CandiMakerDesigns (CMD) Etsy shop in June 2021 selling sublimation digital designs. I enjoyed sublimation, but the upfront costs associated with buying blanks for all the things I wanted to make wasn't really within my budget. I had one digital design that did particularly well (my "He is Risen" Easter design) and I even got a bestseller badge for it, but I was getting burnt out fast. I also opened my CandiMakerTransfers (CMT) Etsy shop in October 2022. I offered some pre-designed sublimation transfers, but I really enjoyed printing custom transfers for customers and it brought in several large orders. 

I decided to change up my business plan. I became more interested in sticker making and I started looking into and testing products in August 2022. Then on National Sticker Day in January 2023, I opened my CandiMakerStickers Etsy Shop! I enjoyed it so much and it was going so well...in June 2023, I closed down CMT and then in November 2023, I closed down CMD. I knew I wasn't going to want to go back to sublimation at all. My family even switched around printers so that my sister got my sublimation printer since she was still doing sublimation, my mom got my original smaller sticker printer, and I got a new large printer for my stickers. 

In October 2023, I became a wholesaler on Faire. I got my first order in November and that was really exciting. It's been pretty slow over there since, though. But admittedly, I haven't spent a lot of time on it. I need to add more of my recent designs. I expanded to add my stickers on eBay in December 2023. I'm still working on adding the rest of my designs on there, too. It's been a slow process adding them, but I do get orders each month on eBay. 

I ended 2023 with 442 sales in my Etsy sticker shop. Sales on Etsy are how many listing variations are purchased in each order (so it doesn't include multiple quantities of the same item). I did have several orders where a customer would order 10-25 of the same sticker...those were exciting orders. :) The day with the highest number of sales in 2023 was November 23rd with 16 sales. The month with the highest number of sales was December with 66. Then from my calendar which covers all my sales channels, the month that the highest number of orders was December with 52 orders. And the most orders in one week was the week of December 10-16 when I had 18 orders. My record for most orders in one day for 2023 was five. 

I added Magnets to CandiMakerStickers in February 2024 and they've been a big hit! I also decided to repurpose my CMT shop into CandiMakerPlanners in April. I decided that I didn't want my sticker sheets to overshadow my die-cut stickers so I wanted to separated them out. It's been pretty show at CMP, but I did get my first sale for some new sticker sheets last week. :) I also plan to add more planner products in the future as well, including planner covers. I think I will eventually reopen CandiMakerDesigns again in the future with different products, but I haven't decided exactly what I want to do yet. Right now, I'm really enjoying the success of CandiMakerStickers. :) My Chronic Illness stickers are definitely my bestselling stickers by far...but I do sell a pretty wide variety of my other stickers as well. I really, really love coming up with new design ideas. :) 

But...2024 has been very successful! As of yesterday, I already have 448 sales in my Etsy sticker shop...6 more than I had in all of 2023! I surpassed my previous record for daily sales of 16...I had 18 sales yesterday! My highest daily orders for all sales channels in 2023 was 5...then for 2024 I had 6 orders for the first time on February 26th, 7 on March 31st, and then yesterday I had 9 orders! :) My goal for 2024 was to hit 1000 sales...we're not even halfway through the year yet and today I'm already at 892 sales! 

I'm very excited about the progress of CandiMaker! :) 

RECIPE: Strawberry Jell-o Cookies

I've been craving something sweet. So last night at like 11pm I went through the cabinets to see what kind of ingredients we had and I found a box of strawberry Jell-o. I didn't feel like actual Jell-o, but I wondered what cookies would taste like made from it. So...I came up with this! When I took them out of the oven I was like...wait, I remember this smell! They smell exactly like Frankenberry cereal...and taste a lot like it, too! 

Strawberry Jell-o Cookies 

Ingredients:

2 large eggs

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup shortening 
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 6oz package of strawberry Jell-o
1 tsp vanilla 

1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3 cups flour

1/3 cup sugar for rolling

Directions: 
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 
Mix eggs, butter, shortening, brown sugar, Jell-o, and vanilla. 
In a separate bowl, whisk together salt, flour, baking soda, and flour
Gradually add flour mixture 1 cup at a time and mix well.

Remove dough and roll about 1 tbs of dough into a ball then roll it in the sugar and set on the baking sheet. 

Bake for 8-10 minutes. Allow cookies to sit on the pan to continue cooking for at least 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Candace Pride (@tinycandi)

RECIPE: Sloppy Joes & Cheese Peas

This is a recipe from my childhood...this is how my mom has always made it. I just finally got around to actually measuring ingredients this time. :P  Usually I just dump some in and go. They're SUPER easy to make and they taste delicious!

Sloppy Joes

Ingredients:

3 lb ground beef
1.5 cups ketchup
1 tbs dried onion

Directions: 

1. Brown hamburger and drain. 
2. Return hamburger to pan. Combine ketchup and dried onion with hamburger and stir. 
3. Simmer until heated through. 

Cheese Peas

Ingredients:

1 can young sweet peas, drained
1 pouch Velveeta cheese sauce

Directions: 

1. Pour peas into microwave-safe bowl. 
2. Pour Velveeta cheese sauce on top of peas. 
3. Heat peas in microwave for 2 minutes. Stir. 
4. Heat peas in microwave for 1 minute. Stir and serve. 

And that's it! Super easy! 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Candace Pride (@tinycandi)

RECIPE: Lazy Lasagna

This recipe is a lot like my Baked Rotini. I actually just modified it to be even easier...thus the name. ;) The amounts in this recipe actually fill both of these Pyrex baking dishes. I bake the small one the first night and then I put the big pan in the refrigerator and bake it for leftovers. You could adjust the ingredients to fit in one pan, though. It's also a great option for something like meal trains when you're wanting to provide a meal for someone. All they have to do is heat it up in the oven until the cheese melts. I forgot to take a picture, so I'll have to do that next time. :P 

Lazy Lasagna 

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef
24 oz sour cream
2 cup mozzarella cheese
1 cup grated parmesan
12oz mini bow-tie (farfalle) pasta
1 jar Prego Roasted Garlic & Herb
1 jar Prego Fresh Musroom
4 cups shredded Italian blend cheese 

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 
2. Prepare pasta according to package.
3. Brown hamburger and drain. Return to pan and mix with both jars of spaghetti sauce.
4. In a mixing bowl combine sour cream, mozzarella, and parmesan.
5. In the baking dish (es), spread a layer of meat sauce along the bottom of the pan. 
6. Spread all the cooked pasta over the meat sauce in the pan. 
7. Spread the sour cream and cheese mixture over the pasta. I spoon into dollops and then spread it out with a spatula. 
8. Pour the rest of the meat sauce over the sour cream and cheese mixture. Carefully spread it out with a spatula so it covers the entire pan. 
9. Sprinkle the Italian blend shredded cheese over the top. 
10. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until cheese on top is melted. 

Stormy May Weather

So far May has been pretty stormy. It hasn't been bad...just some rain, thunder and lightning, and a little bit of wind. We were actually in a "particularly dangerous situation" tornado watch yesterday as they were predicting large hail and tornados in our area. Some schools and businesses in our area even closed early because the PDS is generally a rare situation. But...we didn't even get any rain except for misty sprinkles off and on throughout the day. They kept pushing back the start time...first 4pm, then 6pm...but the line of storms split as they came near us so it all was all to the north and south of us moving northeast. Lots of people were like, "but it could still happen!" I mean, anything COULD happen...but it was highly unlikely since the line of storms had already moved past us. 

Honestly...it happens a lot. There are legends that say it's because of the rivers and/or the Native Americans originally here which have protected the area...but I don't really know much about it. But 9/10 times whenever they predict any kind of really bad weather (snow, tornados, whatever), it doesn't happen anywhere near as bad as what they were predicting. That's not to say it can't happen...but the number of times we've watched a storm die out before it got here or went around us has been VERY frequent. In the last 10+ years that I've lived here with Johnny...I only remember hearing the tornado sirens going off twice, I think. They used to go off all the time when I was a kid...but that's because they would sound if there was a tornado anywhere in the county so people started largely ignoring the sirens because it didn't mean there was an actual threat in their immediate area. I don't remember when they made the decision to make them more area-specific, but I think it was a good idea. 

The weather caused some issues with air travel. Johnny's brother was in town for his high school reunion. He'd stopped by on Sunday to hang out for a little while and pick up a few things for their mom. Then that evening, they went out to eat at a sports bar in town. They had a really good time. But his brother's flight ended up being delayed and then finally canceled. The passengers were put up in a hotel overnight, but then the flight today was canceled and there were issues with making the connecting flight. So it was all a mess.  

In other news, I made it to 750 sales in my Etsy shop exactly 2 weeks after I'd hit 700 sales! :) I'm pleased with the growth of my shop...especially when compared to last year. It's also pretty good considering I don't do a whole lot of promoting of my shop. Every once in awhile I post a TikTok video if I think about it. I do post comments sometimes when there's a post in the Ehlers-Danlos Memes FB group that matches pretty close with one of my stickers. Most of my traffic (almost 90% this year and 75% last year) comes directly from Etsy searches and SEO. 

That's about all I can think of for now. This week seems to be going by SO slow! I'm ready for the weekend! :P 

Another successful month!

I just finished updating my spreadsheets for the month of April. I had 85 orders in March (across all platforms including in-person sales) and only 79 orders in April...but I had the highest profit in April that I've had since I started CandiMaker in June 2021. :) So that's super exciting! I also hit 700 sales in my Etsy shop on April 23rd...and I'm already at 731 days a week later! My goal this year was to hit 1000 sales by the end of the year...so it looks like I may actually meet that goal early. :)

My chronic illness stickers are the most popular collection in my shop. The individual sticker I have the most sales of so far is my "I have a spreadsheet for that" sticker. I still have SO many design ideas that I want to make. I keep a running list of quotes that I want to use (and then grey them out once I've used them) and so far that document is 30 pages long and counting. LOL. 

It's been storming a lot this week. I love thunderstorms...but I'm not so much a huge fan of washing muddy paws all the time. :P Usually it's not as bad if I let them out one at a time. If I let them both out together, they have a tendency to run around and wrestle...so then they definitely get dirty! I also have to watch Bozley...because one time after it rained, he was out there flopping around like a fish! He usually does that in the snow, but it was the first time I'd seen him do it just because the ground was wet. :P 

Nova is still dealing with allergies. :( She tends to have allergies in the spring/summer quite a bit anyway...but they seemed to get worse right after we tried to change their food over to the turkey option. It's still the Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Skin and Stomach that doesn't have any chicken in it (because they're both allergic to chicken), so I'm thinking Nova is allergic to turkey, too. We've been giving her Benadryl and it's not as bad as it was...but if it doesn't clear up in the next couple weeks, we might take her in to get an allergy shot. 

Well...gonna get some more stuff done before I head to bed! 

April is going well!

So far April is going quite well, actually. It's actually going about as well as last month so far. The second week of April was slower than the end of March...but it's actually about the same as the first couple weeks of March...which was my best month so far. So...hopefully April continues along the same path! :) I didn't have any orders yesterday...but this morning I had 3 orders from Etsy and 1 from eBay all before noon. I've already got those orders printed, cut, and packaged. I've been working on some new stickers but I'm not sure I'll have them all done and photographed before the weekend. Since I worked last weekend, I'm planning to take a break from work this weekend. So we'll see how it goes. 

The kitties turned EIGHT this month! It's hard to believe it's been that long already. All three of them are still doing well. Milo still sleeps on the pillow above my head every night. The pillow is wrapped in a soft blanket that he kneads before he falls asleep. Leo is still the biggest kitty by far...and he's upstairs a lot more often now. When we first got Nova, he was too nervous to come up from the basement. The dogs individually do really well...but together they tend to get each other all worked up and the cats don't really like all the excitement. But the more the cats are up here, the more the dogs leave them alone. Angel still isn't coming upstairs unless the dogs are outside or in the bedroom with Johnny. She's tried to come up a few times when the dogs have been asleep in the living room...but she always makes little trilling noises that wake them up and they chase her back downstairs. If she'd come up here more regularly, they'd get used to her and leave her alone like they do with the other two cats...but she's making progress. Up until a few months ago, she wouldn't come upstairs at all. When she does come up now, she runs straight to lay in my lap and drools all over me. I didn't even know cats drool until I looked it up to make sure it wasn't something to be concerned about. :P Apparently they do it when they're really happy. lol. 

The dogs are doing pretty good. We bought the turkey version of the Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Skin & Stomach food to see if Bozley would eat it better. He didn't...and it turns out that Nova is also allergic to turkey. :P She's had ground turkey before...they would get a little bit when I make chili. After browning it, I'd save a little bit of it for them before I mixed it with the rest of the chili ingredients. She never had a problem with the little amounts...but eating it daily turned out to be a problem. So we switched them back to salmon and have been giving her Benadryl. She's still kinda scratchy but her spots seem to be doing better. We need to get them back to the groomer AND we still need to get Bozley in to be fixed. :P 

The new AC is working wonderfully. It hasn't gone above 1 degree higher than the temperature that it's set at. The old AC had a hard time keeping up on the hottest days. So...even though it was a pain in the ass having it go out and then coming up with the money and getting it replaced...it turned out to be a good thing. 

Well...I'm gonna get back to working on stickers. :)