First real post of 2024!
I was sick the last few days of 2023 into the new year. It didn't last too long and I'm feeling better now. Whenever I'm sick, my neuropathy flares up really bad...so I wasn't getting much sleep. I tossed and turned a lot which made my back and joints even more sore than usual. So we just had a relaxing New Years at home.
New Years Eve was Nova's birthday! Unfortunately it gets celebrated with her least favorite thing in the world...fireworks. :P Luckily there weren't a whole lot of fireworks and they were over after about 15-20 minutes. It wasn't too bad until one of the neighbors behind us set off some really, really loud ones. It's illegal to set off fireworks here outside of the dates and times allowed during 4th of July, but that never matters. Since I was sick, we didn't do anything for Nova's birthday last weekend but I think we're planning to take her to Petco this weekend to let her pick out some new toys and treats. She LOVES going to Petco (anywhere, really). We always have to make a stop by the small animals because she likes watching them. I want to get both Boz and Nova into the groomer sometime, too, but we need to take them to the vet to get this year's shots first. So we'll get around to that sometime. The dogs are doing great, though. I mean...Bozley is still the pickiest dog ever and it's a pain trying to get him to eat all his food, but they're such cute, sweet puppies. Nova is far more calm, laid back, and cuddly. She has been such a wonderful addition to our family...I can't imagine not having either one of them.
On New Years Day, Johnny was in the mood to deep clean the kitchen. He started in the morning/early afternoon cleaning the bar and everything on it and then when I was done with orders, I finished up most of the rest. I didn't get to the microwave or the fridge...and I didn't do the upper cabinets, but it's a pretty good start and looks great. :)
I got my new laptop! It's nice having a fresh start after 10.5 years of having the same computer. I'm loving it so far! I got a Dell Insprion 15-3520 with an i7 processor, 16gb RAM, and 1tb of storage (though I have two 5gb external drives that I store most of my stuff on)...which is basically an upgraded version of my old laptop which was a Dell Inspiron 15-5520 with an i5 processor that I'd upgraded from 8gb to 16gb RAM. It's SO much faster than my old laptop and has a better keyboard, graphics card, and Bluetooth. One of my requirements for a laptop is that it has a numerical keypad (I do a lot of accounting so I use 10-key all the time) so I had limited options to choose from...but I'm happy with this one. I do wish that it had a DVD drive, but it's much lighter without it. It also doesn't have a USB-C port, but I'd rather have the three USB-A ports instead of two and one USB-C. My phone is really the only thing I have right now that's a USB-C so it's not that big of a deal...I have a C to A cord that works fine. My only real complaint is that the outflow vent is above the keyboard pointed toward the screen...so the top of the keyboard often gets pretty warm. My last laptop had the outflow vent on the outside edge so I didn't notice it as much. But...overall I'm very happy that I have a new laptop and everything actually works. lol.
I've been busy the last couple days redesigning a new planner for the year. My sister got me a Hoop Mama Creative Boss planner that I used last year, but it was mostly focused on business-only and I want one that incorporates everything and is more tailored to my needs. I'd made one back in 2021 when I was still doing transcription, but it was before I started CandiMaker so I needed something more. Hopefully this new planner will do the trick!
I'm also excited to start making planner products to sell for CandiMaker. I want to make covers, stickers, and more...and I'm pretty excited about it. Of course, my biggest issue at the moment is trying to decide how to arrange my products...if I want to sell them under CandiMakerStickers or revamp CandiMakerDesigns for planner products (which is the way I'm leaning right now). So we'll see how it goes. First, I need to finish uploading my stickers to eBay. I only uploaded a few designs to start because I wasn't sure if it would even be worth it...but I made a decent-sized sale within just a few weeks.
I've been watching a lot of Burn Notice and Chance on Hulu in the background while I've been working. The only thing I've really watched Hugh Laurie on was House...and I loved that show. He plays a much different (yet still American) character on Chance but I really like him in it. My favorite character, though, is D. He's a pretty unique character and I just love his demeanor and the way he always says, "awesome," in response to everything. And then Johnny and I have been watching Reacher and Man in the High Castle during dinner. Reacher is probably my favorite currently-airing show right now. I love Alan Ritchson's character...and I love the humor. Season 1 was awesome, but I'm enjoying Season 2 as well. I hope it'll continue airing for many more seasons! We just started Man in the High Castle last month and we're on Season 2 now...it's pretty interesting and I'm curious to see where it leads. And new episodes of Law & Order and NCIS start again in January. We dropped the Live portion of Hulu during the strikes because there weren't new episodes of our shows anyway...but we may get it again now that they'll be back.
Well...I'm gonna get back to work! Hope everyone has a wonderful 2024!