Johnny is finally home!

This post has been open in my browser since Sunday and I just keep adjusting and adding to it without finishing it. LOL. It's now Thursday...and hopefully I'm posting this without changing that day again. :P 

I'm so happy that my husband is back home safe and sound. Mom and I took Johnny to the airport Saturday, May 16th and we picked him up on Sunday, May 24th. It was a day longer than his trip to Seattle over Labor Day last year. We had to play around with the dates to get the best price...the tickets were quite a bit higher this year. But Johnny was still able to fly first class in his favorite seat, so he really liked that. He was able to spend quite a bit of time with his mom plus do a few things with his brother like going to the Seattle Market and exploring different areas by the water. He was pretty sore when he got home from all the miles of walking they did. With the way my back and joints have been lately...there would've been no way I could've done it! There are days when my back seizes up just walking past the neighbor's house to the mailbox! 

I didn't do a whole lot while Johnny was gone other than work and get some stuff done around the house. Last time he was gone, my mom and I cut our king size adjustable bed in half, but I didn't really have a big project this time. A lot of my time was spent going outside with the dogs. :P I don't think they knew what to do with themselves having their routine disrupted. I played Sims4 a bit on the weekends since I hadn't played in awhile. Of course when I say that I "played" I mean that I just worked on building our Sims house. ;) It's AMAZING and if we decide to build a house in the future, it's definitely going to inspire our real house. ;) I also watched Scandal again on Netflix (mostly just for background noise) and made it from Season 1 to Season 6...then finished the series (it has 7 seasons total) yesterday. It's been so long since I'd watched it that I'd forgotten most of what happened in that show.

Neither one of us got much sleep while he was gone. Luckily Johnny was off work on Monday for the holiday so he could unwind and get some much needed rest before starting the workweek again. We lounged around watching some YouTube in the living room together. Johnny has lots of channels he subscribes to...plus we enjoy watching funny animal clips and funny "fails" videos where people fall down. It's our guilty pleasure. lol. Most of our messenger conversations consist of just sending funny video clips back and forth. ;) 

This past year I discovered Celina Spooky and her sleepwalking videos. The first clip of hers that I saw was when she had been sleepwalking in a hotel and woke up naked in the hallway. I think what I love most is the way she reminds me so much of Aubry! Her mannerisms, gestures, and the way she throws her head back when she laughs...Aubry does the same thing! Aubry also likes old, eclectic things and even had a skeleton (which she named Boner) riding in her car for several years. Anyway...I kind of went off on a tangent there. :P  

Work is going well. I passed 4350 sales on Sunday in my CandiMakerStickers shop. I started the year at 3695 sales (my goal last year was 3500). I feel like I've been setting some pretty "easy" goals, so my goal for this year is to hit 6000 in that shop. So...we'll see! While we were watching TV on Monday, I was going back and forth printing and cutting stickers, magnets, and sticker sheets. I had 20 orders that I packaged to put in the mail Monday night. I had two eBay orders, two sticker sheet orders, and the rest were from my regular sticker and magnet shop. My custom name label sticker sheets have already started selling this year. Last year I sold one custom name sticker sheet in January then didn't sell another one until I sold four at the end of June. This year I've sold at least one (and as many as six sheets!) every month from January through April. This month, I've sold 11 of the name label sticker sheets just since May 19th. Last July I sold 209 individual custom name label sticker sheets (then August was a bit less with 157 before it tapered back down to single digits). So I'm really interested to see how many I sell this July. My goal in my CandiMakerPlanners shop this year is to get to 1500 (I am currently at 576 sales). 

Since I was all caught up on orders, I took a break on Tuesday to play the new Paralives that was released on Monday (this is not a compensated review at all). It's a new life simulation game that is being compared to Sims. I decided to get it while they currently have a 10% discounted Early Access price. The good news is that's all you have to pay...ever. They've vowed not to put any new content behind paywalls...it'll all be delivered for free through game updates. 

So far, I really love the ways that it's different from Sims. It has an open world which was removed in the evolution from Sims 3 to Sims 4. It has color wheels so you can recolor pretty much everything. It has sliders for almost everything...height, every body part, many of the build items (like sliding furniture to make it shorter or longer), etc. One thing I really love is that not only is building not limited to a grid, everything is still completely usable. For example, I purchased an existing lot and completely remodeled it...but everything was a very odd shape. I wanted to add a staircase to a rooftop loft (because building a roof is still pretty basic and clunky...so with such odd shapes, I didn't have the patience to keep trying) so I wanted to add a staircase and make a rooftop patio area. The space for the stairs to the rooftop really wasn't big enough for a door to open...but it still let me put it there and the people use it as normal without a problem. So that's definitely an improvement. And it gives you a lot more freedom to clutter desktops, counters and everything because you're not limited to 1-4 "slots" to place things like in the Sims. The graphics are completely different from Sims, but I don't think they're bad. It's just a different aesthetic. And a lot of people are complaining about lack of options...but this is an *Early Release* of a *base* game. Sims 4 base game was pretty lacking as well when it was first released. I don't think Paralives will stop me from playing Sims, but I think it will be another game I enjoy.  

Tuesday ended up being a pretty good day for me to take a break from work...because I've been surviving on very little sleep and feeling really uncomfortable and irritated. TMI...but perimenopause is horrible. I've been dealing with it since late summer 2020. My cycles haven't gone away, but they'd gotten a lot shorter and lighter. Well...I didn't have my period at all in April so I was starting to get excited...until I'm now apparently having two periods in one. I've never had such heavy bleeding from a period. I'm talking...having to set a timer for 50 minutes because 60 minutes is too late to change my S+ tampon (hey, I warned you it was TMI!). It started late Monday night and continued until about 8am yesterday. It's still here today but not heavy anymore. The last time I bled like that was when I had a miscarriage at 12 weeks in April 2007. I only got lightheaded when I was standing too long trying to cut the vegetables for dinner on Tuesday. I was standing too long and got too hot. So I ended up postponing fajitas for dinner and ended up going to bed (only to wake up four hours later wide awake until 7am). Last night I was finally feeling better and finished making fajitas for dinner. Mmmm! 

Alright...gonna eat some leftovers for lunch and then gonna work on orders to put in the mail tonight. :)

A Productive Weekend!

I got a LOT of stuff done this weekend! And...Johnny and I got some new desks! :)

Friday morning I decided to start working on my office right after I woke up. I needed to empty everything off of the hutch bookcase so I could move Johnny's old desk (the one that my Romeo was on) to that spot and then put the hutch bookcase on top of the desk where it belongs. That bookcase holds all my cookbooks, art books, some writing books, and then I have all of our wedding decorations on top (which I'm very glad still fit up there when we moved the hutch onto the desk).  

Friday afternoon my mom and grandma stopped by so I could fix Grandma's phone. She had inadvertently turned off the full-screen notification of when she's getting a call...so the phone was ringing with just a black screen and she couldn't tell who was calling. We had some Taco Tico for lunch and chatted for a bit. The dogs definitely liked having company. :) 

After mom and grandma left, Johnny's new desk arrived (an hour later than FedEx originally estimated). I got the top and the bottom of the desk put together and then I took a break so we could have some Casey's pizza for dinner. After we ate, Johnny helped me move both pieces of his desk into the bedroom and I attached them together. Then all I had to do was put the LED light strip up (which was not designed well because it lays flat so it can't go around the corner and still be flat against the board). But other than that, it really looks great. It'll definitely be better than the old, slanted art desk of his mom's that he was using before. 

I went to bed around 12:45am. Unfortunately...I woke up to Milo puking on the bed at my feet about two hours later. :P  I didn't want to wake Johnny, so I decided to just go ahead and get up. I didn't do a whole lot during the night...just kinda played around on my phone and the computer. But after Johnny woke up, I started washing the bedding and then got to work in my office. Apparently only two hours of sleep leads to productivity! :P 

Last month I started scanning some of the documents in the file cabinets that we have in the closet in my office...and I decided that I wanted to get those shredded before I put my new desk in the office. My desk ended up getting here around 9:30am (5 hours earlier than FedEx originally estimated) but I wanted to finish scanning first so I could get the box of paper out of the office. It seemed to take FOREVER...but I got the entire box done (which filled almost five 13gal trash bags). Then I vacuumed and moved some things around...and finally put my new desk together. It went pretty quick and it fits perfectly. I really like how my office is coming together. It's a pretty small room, but I'm trying to make the most of the space that I have. Later I'll update my office collection post with all my new stuff. :) 

I made creamy chicken enchiladas for dinner on Sunday night. They're SO yummy...but it makes my back hurt from standing so long. Usually I get my orders that I got over the weekend done on Sunday, but I needed a break after putting the desks together and reorganizing my office. I didn't have any orders due until the 17th, so I took a break on Sunday and then got back at it on Monday. I had a LOT of magnets to print and cut. I'm so glad that I started selling magnets as well as stickers, because it has really helped my business grow. The new layout of my office also helped a lot with my workflow. 

Ooh and I figured out how to create a playlist on Amazon Prime to play music while I'm packing orders. I had been playing shows on Netflix or Hulu on my tablet while working in the office, but I feel like I'm more productive and efficient when listing to music instead. I don't really want to pay for Amazon Music Unlimited every month, but I wanted to play music on the Echo dot that we got forever ago. So I figured out that I could add songs to "My Likes" playlist and then just have Alexa play that list to shuffle all the songs I actually like. I liked having my shows playing in the background, but playing music is more motivating and productive. ;) 

I also made some adjustments to the settings for my cardstock cards. Since my ET-16650 prints so fast, I'd completely forgotten how much slower other printers are...including my new WF-4833. But instead of printing high quality, I went ahead and bumped it down to standard, turned on bidirectional printing, and increased the contrast, saturation, and density. So now it looks pretty much the same, but it prints a lot faster. I like it when things are efficient. 

Oh and I finished the new season of Virgin River on Friday. The last few seasons feel pretty slow a lot of the time, but it wasn't too bad. And every season ends on a cliffhanger...which I never like. It's just a tool to make sure people come back and watch the next season to see what happens...which feels manipulative. But I still come back to see what happens. :P Well...most of the time. There are some shows that I completely lost interest in and don't even care to see what else happens. 

Well...I'm going to get back to work. 

What a mess!

So...my Epson ET-16650 has been having some issues. It still prints my stickers and sticker sheets beautifully, but the rollers seem to be having some issues with auto duplexing and recognizing that there is paper in the lower two cassettes unless they're full. I've opened it up multiple times and tried cleaning the rollers and everything...but it's still having issues. But the only things I've been having issues with are when I'm printing my packaging inserts and packing slips...so I don't want to replace the entire printer when it's still printing my actual products without any problems. 

I decided I would go ahead and get a cheaper printer for regular office printing. Since I don't need it to be pigment, I was looking at the regular Epson Ecotank printers. They had a "certified renew" Epson ET-3853 which was the cheapest ($179)...so I went ahead and got that one. It arrived yesterday and it was HORRIBLE. The very first print...there were black smudges all over the page. These weren't smears like the ink I printed hadn't dried or the paper was curled and it hit the printhead or anything. It honestly looked like someone took the paper and stepped on it with their dirty shoe. Just random smudges. I did paper guide cleaning, printhead cleaning, print quality adjustment, printhead alignment...all of it. I even cleaned the rollers off with a cotton swab as explained in the user manual which helped a bit until I had to do another printhead cleaning because there were missing spots in the nozzle check pattern...then it all came right back. I spent HOURS trying to get this damn printer to not make shitty prints to no avail. And I tried to print auto duplex (since that was one of the main reasons for getting a new printer) and the back of the page shifted while printing every time. I was so excited...just to waste the day on a defective printer. 

I've had THREE Epson Ecotank printers...an ET-16650 that I'd converted to sublimation (my sister has that now since I'm not doing sublimation anymore), an ET-5800 that I'd purchased from Epson's refurbished eBay store (that my mom is now using), and another Epson ET-16650 that I have been using for almost three years to print my stickers and sticker sheets. All three of them worked perfectly right out of the box including the refurbished ET-5800. I'd get another ET-5800-series printer if they weren't so dang expensive ($600-800) especially considering it's just for office printing and not products. 

The Epson store customer service line you have to call for returns (because, unfortunately, you can't just do it online) is only open from 7am-4pm PST...which means they close at 2pm my time. The first time I called was at 12:14pm. I explain the issue...and they say that I have to go through tech support to be approved for a return label and refund. So they transfer me and I explain every single thing I've already done. She wanted me to go through it all again...uh, no. I've already followed EVERY troubleshooting step and packaged the damn thing back up last night. So she just goes with it and says that she'll send me an email with the reference number...never got an email. So at 12:39pm I call the return number back. They said that they see no record of tech authorizing the return and they don't know why she would send an email anyway...so I'm transferred and have to explain ALL the things I already did AGAIN. This time I get a ticket/reference number saying it's a hardware failure and told that I have to call the return line back again. So now I call the return number again at 12:58pm. I give the guy the reference number I was given...and he says that there is no mention of a hardware failure, only troubleshooting. So I am transferred AGAIN and have to explain ALL the things I did AGAIN. She assured me that the hardware failure was now attached to the reference number and tried to transfer me back to the return number, but it wouldn't work so I had to call the return number again. FINALLY when I call back at 1:13pm I end up with an email for a return label. Now I just have to get it dropped off for FedEx. UGH. SO frustrating. 

So...I decided to go a different route. We had an Epson Workforce printer before I started my business. It worked fine for awhile, but we didn't print very often and it just went downhill after a few years. It was also a cartridge printer and went through cartridges pretty quick. That's why I originally wasn't going to get another Workforce printer...but I don't want to spend a lot of money on a printer just for my office stuff. So I decided to reexamine the Workforce printers. And after the headache dealing with Epson, I decided I didn't want to go through them directly. I actually found a pretty nice option at our local Walmart that could be delivered same day. Ideally I wanted a printer that could handle auto duplexing cardstock and even better if it had two dedicated paper trays so I could have one for plain paper and another for cardstock like I've had in my ET-16650. The Workforce Pro WF-4833 is actually a lot like my old ET-5800. The only thing it doesn't have that I would've liked is a rear feed paper tray...but that's a pretty minor thing. And, of course, I wish it was a tank printer instead of cartridges. But since the printer is only $129, getting cartridges aren't that bad at this point. 

I got the WF-4833 all set up...and it worked beautifully right out of the box. I printed my double-sided cards that are printed on cardstock...and it had no problem auto duplexing the cardstock from the paper cassette. It does print quite a bit lighter than my ET-16650...but I don't know how much changing I'll do because I don't want to use more of the ink than I really have to on things that a lot of my customers probably throw away anyway. And we'll see how long the cartridges last. But so far I'm pleased with my purchase. :) 

And...I'm really running out of desk space for all my stuff...especially with the new printer. So I found a cheap desk on Amazon that I think will work well for my small office. I'm going to move Johnny's old desk (the one my Romeo has been on) over next to the armoire where the hutch (more like a bookcase) that goes on top of that desk already is. On the hutch I just have my cookbooks, art and writing books, and then all the stuff from our wedding displayed on it. I used to have all my planners and everyone's yearbooks and stuff on it too, but I took all those downstairs when preparing for one of the storms that they were saying would basically take out our town (it barely stormed at all, of course). I decided to go ahead and just leave them in the basement instead of bringing them downstairs every time there might be a tornado warning. 

Anyway...the new desk I got should fit where Johnny's old desk had been. If it all works out, it should fit my new printer, the Romeo, and my Cricut on the new desk. Then I can move a few random things (like my paper cutter) onto Johnny's old desk. Right now it's just sitting on the end of my desk and I have to keep moving it to use it or when I need more space on my desk. I'm really excited to be making a little better use of the space in my small office. :) I'm all caught up on orders and my desk is supposed to be delivered on Saturday...so I'm going to use the next few days to clean up and rearrange in my office. That way I'll be all ready to put the desk together and move it to its new home. :)

We also got a new desk for Johnny to use for work. He's been using his mom's art desk that's set up in a corner of our bedroom. It has a slightly slanted top which really isn't suitable to use as a computer desk. So it's definitely time we got him an upgrade to something that has much more of an "office" feel to it. I found a perfect corner desk that I think he will love. It's supposed to be delivered on Friday, so I'll put it together when it arrives and then he can get it all set up the way he wants over the weekend so he can have a fresh start to his work week on Monday. :) 

Right now I'm waiting for the new season of Virgin River to start. The new episodes are supposed to drop on Netflix at 2am...so I'm going to wait up for it. I'm only going to watch the first episode tonight...I'll finish the rest tomorrow. Season 6 ended on a cliffhanger...the very last scene is Jack walking into the twins' bedroom at Charmaine's (after Charmaine was a no-show at the wedding and no one could get a hold of her) and he has a shocked look on his face after he opens the door...and that's it. That's where they ended it. I just want to know what the hell he saw! :P lol. 

And that's about all that's going on around here. I lead a super exciting life. ;) 

Valentine's Day!

Johnny and I are pretty low-key when it comes to holidays. We like to spend quality time together...eating dinner and watching tv shows or movies with each other. I love our nice, comfortable life together. We don't have any drama, there's no fighting...everyday is just...contentment...and I really appreciate that. 

I did splurge a little bit this year. I've been seeing commercials for edible arrangements for years and always thought that it would be neat thing to do for Johnny. He really likes fruit and flowers aren't very "manly" so a fruit bouquet just seemed like it'd be perfect. I ordered an arrangement that had some pineapple hearts, strawberries, and chocolate covered strawberries with a valentines day balloon. I wanted something that didn't have everything covered in chocolate, because I knew he'd want to share it with the puppies. 

I ordered it around 1am on February 13th for valentines day delivery on Saturday. It arrived shortly before 2pm and came in a case in an insulated bag. The balloon was tied to the handles on the bag...and Bozley immediately hated it. :P He ran to the hallway and started barking at it. Then when I was finally able to get him to sit on the couch next to me, he kept shaking really bad. I ended up putting the balloon in my office, and then Johnny opened the bag. I was surprised to find two vases in there...I'd only ordered one and it didn't say anything about it including two of them. Johnny loved it...and the doggies liked getting half a piece of a pineapple heart. ;) Since Johnny liked it so well, I'm going to get another one for his birthday that has a wider variety of fruits. I would have gotten it this time, but it had birthday balloons with it. :P 

Ashlyn came over Saturday afternoon to do laundry (tons of laundry!) and I did her taxes while she was here. She brought Neko with her and he seemed to enjoy seeing Johnny. It took him awhile, but he was also playing with Nova a little bit. She'd lay on the floor and let him jump on her. It was cute. 

It was late by the time Ashlyn left, so we decided to just have leftover cheesy chicken chili for dinner Saturday night. Then tonight we had Hibachi Boy for our valentines day dinner. :) We also finished watching Fool Me Once on Netflix. We watched an episode during dinner Friday night and then watched a couple more episodes in the bedroom. And then tonight we watched the last three episodes during/after dinner. We thought it was a pretty good show. Then on Thursday Season 3 of Night Agent will be on Netflix, so we'll watch that until our other shows come back from hiatus. 

Work has slowed for February, but I'm still doing better than February 2025. Last year, from February 1st through the 15th I had 37 orders...this year I already have 50 orders. So I'm hoping the momentum keeps up for the rest of the month. :) 

On that note...I have some new sticker sheets that I want to work on a little bit before I go to bed. Goodnight!

Christmas Eve!

It's hard to believe it's Christmas Eve already! It hasn't really seemed the same ever since my Grandma Ina died in 2020. For 38 years of my life, Grandma and Grandpa had all the family over to celebrate Christmas. It was the one time each year we'd definitely see our cousins. It was a loud, full house and we've made so many memories that continued through my kids' childhood, too (although some years they couldn't go because they were with their dad). Spending so many years doing the same thing and then suddenly not doing anymore...it's just very sad. The family really doesn't get together as a group except for special events like weddings. It's sad how things change, but it's inevitable, I suppose. 

Part of the same Christmas routine since I was a baby was going to my mom's dad and stepmom's house for Christmas with that side of the family. While the group has gotten smaller as people have moved away and started their own families, my immediate family is still there every year. My grandpa is 90 years old now, but hopefully we'll still have many years left to keep the tradition going. 

Other than that we haven't been doing much. Johnny went to his daughter's house last night. My Cricut Maker 4 didn't arrive until yesterday afternoon, so I was busy setting that up and making orders that were due to ship today. And my Romeo started cutting off center on Friday and I was frustrated so I decided to just wait on finishing the orders. It was working so well...then all the sudden it was off. I figured out how to do the calibration...but even after calibrating, like, a dozen times...it was still off. But then I found how to manually adjust the camera and after a few test cuts and adjustments, I was able to get it cutting perfectly again. Thank goodness! My CandiMakerPlanners shop is doing better this December (and year) than last year. So far my CandiMakerStickers shop is almost on par with last December (I've only gotten 1 less order so far compared to last year), but I've had a 37% increase in orders and a 52% increase in revenue for this year compared to this point last year. Most of the increase in revenue is because I sell a lot more magnets now, which are a higher price point than stickers. 

Johnny asked me today if I got gifts for the dogs. Uh...I wasn't planning on it. lol. They already have a ton of toys and it's not like they know it's Christmas. But...I went ahead and got each of the puppies three new stuffed animals. I started out trying to get them through Petco, but every single thing I'd added to the cart for same day delivery ended up saying sold out a short time later. Johnny said he'd go to Petco after work if I couldn't order any...but they close at 7pm which is when Johnny gets off work. So I looked at Chuck & Don's website and was able to find a lot of toys available for same day delivery. I found three separate brands that had two of the same-ish size different animals (well, one is a snowman)...and I like things to be equal. ;)

I'll wrap them before Johnny gets off work and then we'll have them open the presents tonight after dinner. Last year, Bozley was more interested in the wrapping paper than the presents (he liked them after we threw the wrapping paper away, though). Nova LOVES toys and always has particular toys that she's most attached to. And when she gets excited--like waiting for her breakfast, waiting for us to sit down to eat dinner, or when Johnny is getting ready to go to bed--she'll lay on the floor and squeak one of her toys over and over again. She'll also look for specific toys that she wants at any given time. Bozley tends to just want whatever toy (or sock, shoe, or a stray towel he found somewhere) is closest to put in his mouth when he gets excited. He doesn't care at all about squeakers or anything. His favorite "toys" are rocks or sticks that he finds in the yard that he can toss around and roll around on. He does like tennis balls...though he isn't as great about the second part of fetch. He'll bring it back...he just won't let you have it. :P And interestingly enough, Nova doesn't care that much about tennis balls except for tearing them apart. And 9/10 times if you throw the ball to her, she'll run after it...but then just walk away once she gets to it. They're such funny puppies. And yes...I know that they're 5 years old and not literally puppies...but they'll always be our puppies. ;) 

We've been watching Invasion in the evenings while we eat dinner. Johnny watched an episode while he was visiting his brother in Seattle, so we started it from the beginning. We're only on S01E07. But tonight, Johnny and I are planning to watch Tom Segura's new Netflix special. He's one of our favorite comedians. The second volume of Stranger Things drops tomorrow, but we might not start it until this weekend. About this time last year I had just watched Season 6 of Virgin River and was talking about how we didn't have to wait until next December for Season 7. Well...we don't have to wait until December...we have to wait even longer. :P That's one thing I hate about the change to streaming...it seems that so many shows take forever to release the next season. We used to get 20-24 episodes a season and there was only a break over the summer and a shorter hiatus around Thanksgiving and Christmas. Now you get only 7-10 episodes and it's typically at least a year before you get to watch the next season. You can binge watch an entire season in a weekend (or a day if you're not doing anything else). It's just really annoying. 

Well...I suppose I shall go wrap presents. I hope everyone has a merry Christmas! 

Hello December!

We had a really nice Thanksgiving. My mom, grandma, sister, and Aubry ate with us. Aubry was the first to arrive and she helped me get some things ready...like putting the new tablecloth on the table, tying the new seat cushions to the chairs, and putting together the meat and cheese tray. Then my mom, grandma, and sister all showed up about the same time. My sister brought cake pops, a pumpkin pie cheesecake, and deviled eggs. My mom brought a ham and mashed potatoes. Then I made everything else. I made one turkey breast in the pressure cooker that day, and then I made another one for our leftovers. I also bought some more bananas to make banana bread again this week. The banana bread and pumpkin bread were definitely a big hit. I didn't get the ginger molasses cookies made, but I'm going to make those to take to Christmas at my sister's along with chocolate chip cookies and chicken salad sandwiches. 

After everyone left that night, I had to finish making and packaging 14 orders that went out in the mail Friday. Sunday night I made and packaged 30 orders and was all caught up. Then Tuesday night I made and packaged another 23 orders that went out in the mail Wednesday. And then last night I made and packaged another 15 orders since I couldn't sleep. So I've been keeping busy with orders lately. 

During this year's holiday sale, my orders were up 2% compared to last year and my revenue was up 10%. So that's really nice...especially considering the state of the economy. A lot of Etsy sellers are reporting slow sales, but things are actually picking up in my shop. October was pretty slow, but November ended up being my best month outside of the unusually busy July and August when my custom name label sticker sheets did so well for back to school. 

I already met my goal this year of reaching 3500 sales in my CandiMakerStickers shop on December 2nd. :)  I have a spreadsheet where I track every 50 sales in my Etsy shops. From October 1 through November 14, it was taking me 10-13 days to hit 50 sales. Then it went down to 8 days on November 22, 6 days on November 28, and then 4 days on December 2nd. Last December was my most successful month for 2024, so we'll see how it goes this year. I'm also just 4 sales away from 500 in my CandiMakerPlanners shop. I think my goal for next year is to hit 6000 in my sticker shop and 1000 in my planner shop. We'll see how it goes. :) 

Johnny and I finished the first part of Season 5 of Stranger Things. It felt to me like it started out really, really slow...but finally got interesting by the 4th episode. I wish Dr Owens was in this season...I really liked his character. I'm looking forward to seeing how everything plays out though. I'm also looking forward to the next season of Virgin River. It ended on a cliffhanger, of course, and I am not a patient person...so I don't like waiting to see what happens. :P I believe it's supposed to hit Netflix in the Spring of 2026. And I really wish Reacher would hurry up with Season 4. I know there's a Neagley spinoff...and I'm sure that will probably be released before Reacher. We are watching the last episode of Murder in a Small Town tonight...no idea when the 3rd season will be released. There are three more episodes of Tracker this season. We're also looking forward to High Potential, The Hunting Party, and The Night Agent coming back in 2026. I really wish the seasons were longer. I miss the days where there were 24 episodes in a season. It's especially irritating when it takes a year or more for the next season to air. Like I said...I'm not a patient person. :P 

It's felt like a very long week so far. The days seem to be going sooo slow. It doesn't help that I've felt pretty crappy lately. It makes sleeping difficult which makes me really tired during the day....so I'm sure that doesn't help. I was up working on orders until almost 3am and I still couldn't sleep, so I ended up making some more banana bread until 4am. :P The bananas were weird...like the bottom part was too ripe but the top part wasn't ripe enough. I didn't want to wait longer and have the bananas end up getting moldy, so I went ahead and made a double batch...which worked out alright. The bread isn't as sweet as it usually is, but it's still pretty tasty. 

Well...I think I'm going to get started enjoying my weekend! :) 

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! 

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! 

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! :) 

And now it's June!

Things are going well with my work. CandiMaker Stickers achieved Star Seller for the first time on June 1st, so that was pretty neat. :) It's basically just a badge in your shop which shows that you have mostly 5-star reviews (all of mine are 5 stars), answer all messages within 24 hours, and ship all packages on time with tracking. I always meet those metrics in all of my Etsy shops. However, you also have to have at least 5 orders and $300 in sales during the review period...and that has been the factor as far as why I haven't gotten Star Seller in any of my Etsy shops until now. I sell items that have a very low price point (most items are less than $5)...so it takes quite a few orders to meet the minimum. But this month, I did it! :) 

I opened CandiMaker Stickers on January 13, 2023 and had 8 orders that first half-month. In February, I had another 8 orders. Then in March I had 22 orders including my first two multi-quantity orders totaling over $10. April was slower with only 16 orders...most of which were at the beginning and the end of the month. I also got my first orders for the custom name stickers that I'd added. :) And then in May, I had another 22 orders which included several multi-product orders including magnetic bookmarks AND a repeat customer (other than my sister). Her first order was ten 2" rare disease awareness stickers and then less than 2 weeks later she ordered three different 3" stickers and my first magnetic bookmark sale! And four days later, someone else ordered two more magnetic bookmarks, which prompted me to revamp my magnetic bookmarks packaging to match the vendor/wholesale packaging that I have for my stickers. And now I've already had several orders for the start of June. As of today, I'm at a total of 81 orders and 96 sales. Make that 82 orders and 97 sales! I literally just received another sticker order. :) Oh, and "sales" means the number of items sold...although an order that has multiple quantities of the same item only counts as 1 item for some reason. So the order above where she ordered ten of the same sticker, that results in only 1 sale. But her second order for three different stickers and a magnetic bookmark...that one counts as 4 sales. 

Ever since I started CandiMaker Stickers, I've paid a lot less attention to my other two Etsy shops. CandiMaker Designs has slowed significantly. I still had several orders between January and March for my He Is Risen design, which has been the most popular since January 2022. Then I sold a few other designs in April...but it's been pretty dead since then. I've also not uploaded a new design since I opened my sticker shop...which definitely has an effect on sales. And then in CandiMaker Transfers, I get about one order per month. I made a lot of changes to CandiMaker Transfers this year. My prices in that shop were pretty low to start (but pretty much on-par with my competitors), because I hoped that it would encourage multi-quantity purchases (since shipping is a flat fee regardless of how many items are ordered)...but that wasn't the case. So what I did was increase my individual pricing and then offered a far more deeply discounted rate for 10-packs...which has been working out a lot better. 

I've been thinking a lot about whether or not I want to continue offering sublimation transfers. If not, I can switch my sublimation printer back over to a pigment printer...as it prints larger pages and is a lot faster than my current pigment printer. But I didn't want to do anything until I used all the brand new ink that I'd just put in my sublimation printer. Since I haven't been getting frequent orders, that's taken awhile. :P BUT...yesterday I got an order for SEVENTY total pages of custom 11x17 and 13x19 transfers! I got them all printed today and dropped them off at the post office before they closed. I'm taking this large order as a sign that I should keep my sublimation printer going...at least for now. :)

However, I do think I'm going to switch back to combining my digital download and printed transfer Etsy shops. It will be easier from an administrative perspective to maintain two Etsy shops rather than three...especially since CandiMakerDesigns and CandiMakerTransfers products are so closely related. So I'm going to be working on that this week. 

In other news, we will hopefully soon have a riding lawn mower! My parents found one at a garage sale that needed a battery. So if my dad can get it going, we'll finally have a riding lawn mower! We have a fairly large lot so it'll be a lot better than the push mower, that's for sure. Hopefully we'll have good luck with it...our house tends to be the place where lawn mowers go to die (even if brand new!). :P I think we've had, like, 6 different lawn mowers in the last 10 years...two or three of them we bought brand new. So we shall see! 

Bozley turned THREE years old on June 1st! He's been doing really well. He's eating a lot better lately, too! He would rarely finish his entire bowl of food and I'd have to try to get him to finish it again later...but this week he's been eating it all! We still feed the dogs twice a day...and Nova still tells us whenever she's ready to eat. ;) One morning last week when Johnny had a doctor appointment, we got up earlier than usual. Nova was ready to eat right away so they had breakfast. Then I had a headache so I laid down while Johnny was gone. Well...when we got up she wanted to eat breakfast again. LOL. She didn't get another breakfast...but the rest of the day she kept trying until it was finally dinner time. ;) 

We finished watching Manifest this past weekend. They released the final 10 episodes of season 4. It was pretty good. I was SO tired of the Angelina storyline, but I like how it all eventually played out. I really liked the ending. Actually...it's kinda funny because the short story that I wrote in 7th grade (based on a recurring dream I had as a child/teen) was basically the same ending. I can't really go into much more detail though without spoiling the ending. ;) 

I've also gone back to watch Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. I loved that show when I was a kid. I think a lot of kids get their ideas about relationships from watching Disney movies and other fairytales...but I think the Dr. Mike and Sully relationship was the fairytale relationship in my mind when I was little. ;) It's amazing all the social and political issues that show touched on that is still relevant today...like banning books. :P It was one of my favorite shows as a kid. That was back when you watched cable TV and could record shows with a VCR...and my mom recorded every single one! 

Well...I think I'm going to get back to work on CandiMaker stuff. I hope everyone has a good week!

Look at me go!

Wow...two posts in one week?! Of course...they're the only two for the month so far. :P 

It's been a somewhat busy week. Wednesday I had to take Bozley to the vet. He was lifting his left paw and limping around. We could touch his leg and foot in general with no problem but he got agitated when we touched one of his toes. We couldn't see anything obviously wrong so I went ahead and took him in. He almost bit the vet when he got to that toe--which Boz never does--so it was definitely hurting him. The vet couldn't find anything that had punctured the area and didn't feel anything consistent with a break...so Boz got a shot for his pain and we brought home some antibiotics (just in case it was some kind of puncture that we couldn't see) and some vetprofen. He's been doing better since...only favors it every once in awhile. And he's been surprisingly good taking his medicine, too! 

Then Thursday I had an eye doctor appointment. I usually go once a year and get a new pair of glasses...but I hadn't been since the pandemic shutdowns. I'm nearsighted and I could tell that my prescription needed changed...and that my brain was basically ignoring my right eye except for peripheral vision. And I was right! That's typically how it happens every time. My prescription in my left eye went from a -1.75 to -2 and my right eye went from -3 to -4...so now my right eye is officially twice as bad as my left eye. :P But I got a new pair of glasses that should be here in a couple weeks. I just picked out a pair of plain black plastic DKNY rectangle frames. They're super lightweight and fit nicely. I have such a hard time picking out glasses (and hats, actually) because I have an apparently abnormally small head. :P We had quite a lengthy discussion about how great our insurance is...which we encounter a lot whether it's medical, dental, or vision. We get one pair of glasses a year which includes up to $200 for the frame, free polycarbonate lenses that can include transitions, anti-glare coating, and basically any other coating options. I paid $83 just for the lenses because I got a lighter weight material since the lens for my right eye would be pretty thick otherwise. :P But the original price of the total frames and lenses was almost $800...so yeah...definitely good insurance! And then next year I'll pick out another pair! :) 

Oh and I got a jury duty summons...had to call tonight to see whether or not I'd have to show up...and I do. :P The only other time I've been called for jury duty was shortly after I'd had surgery and I was excused for medical reasons. So this is my first time actually going in for jury duty. We'll see how it goes. :P 

I've also been busy with work. I've made a couple sales this week and I had to print more of my packaging materials. I also took advantage of the slow month by adjusting the titles and keywords on some of my listings so they'll hopefully perform better. I work on it every few months for listings that aren't getting as much traffic. Most of my time, though, has been spent getting stuff ready for the vendor event that my sister is taking some of my stickers to. I've been printing lots of inventory and backer cards then assembling everything for individual retail sales. And this weekend I'm planning to list my new first responder stickers and sticker sheet in my Etsy shop. I was going to try making some different kinds of sticker sheets next week...but we'll see how things go with jury duty. 

I've been binging Stranger Things for...well long enough that Aubry and Johnny keep making fun of me. LOL. But it's not really binge-watching so much as binge-listening. I always like to have some background noise when I'm working on my computer...so I'm not actually *watching* the TV that much. I just look up when I happen to hear a good part coming up that I want to watch...then go back to paying attention to my computer. I go back and forth between all my favorite shows (and I have a LOT of favorites). lol. Oh! I can't wait until Stranger Things 5 is released. I'm sad that it'll be the final season...but hopefully it'll be a good one. My favorite "regular" characters on the show are Hopper, Erica, and Dr. Owens...though for the most part I really like the entire cast. I really, really liked Eddie in Season 4. The whole cast has great chemistry and comedic timing. I like watching Hopper interact with Joyce and the kids. He always makes me laugh. Some things he says and does remind me of my own dad (although my dad is a little more grumbly). lol. And I love Erica's snappy whit. She's a hilarious addition that adds a lot of character to the show. And I know Dr. Owens has such a small part to play compared to the other cast members, but I love his energy...especially in Season 4. I like the way he is with El. He's also one of the only people in the world who doesn't make me cringe when he says the word, "kiddo." Too many years of listening to my ex-husband repeat that word over and over to all the kids during softball season just turned me off of the word completely. :P But for some reason, I don't mind when Owens says it. I really hope he'll be back for the 5th season. Oh and my prediction is that 8 also makes another appearance in the last season. Vecna's abilities seem to be a mix of 8 and 11...I think that's on purpose and they'll have to work together to defeat him. 

Manifest will also be returning for the second part of it's fourth and final season. I believe it's coming to Netflix in June...so just a little bit longer. And by then, our regular shows (NCIS plus Law & Order, SVU, and Organized Crime...and Blacklist but this is the final season for that show) will be on summer hiatus so it'll be nice to have something to watch. I really hope the last season of Manifest is good. I loved the first couple seasons...but Angelina really got on my nerves in Season 3. And then Season 4 kinda felt like a dud. Ben was annoying and I disliked Angelina even more than the previous season. At this point...I'm mostly watching because I just want to see the final conclusion and hoping it'll be better than expected. So we shall see. I'm at least relieved that they renewed it to be able to actually have a conclusion...instead of being canceled without any answers before Netflix picked it up. 

Well...gonna get some more work done before bedtime! 

Ugh...July is HOT.

I'm pretty sure I already mentioned that I'm not a fan of the heat...but I'm really NOT a fan of the heat! :P It's been in the 90s and 100s pretty much everyday and I hate it. My health issues really hate it too. :( I could live very comfortably with mild 70s all year long! 

We didn't do much for 4th of July. It's not really my favorite holiday anyway (I'm not a fan of noise, either). :P Since the kids are older now, we don't have to shoot off fireworks which is just fine by me. IMO, it's literally setting fire to your money. :P lol. 

People tend to go crazy with fireworks in our neighborhood and the dogs were NOT very happy about it. Actually...it was more Nova than Bozley...which is unusual. Boz is typically the more fearful one but he just barks at the fireworks if he's in the house...and will look around for the fireworks and maybe come stand by me and watch if we're outside. With the little fireworks that don't make too much noise, he'll still play around in the backyard without any problem. But Nova was too terrified to even go outside to go to the bathroom at all. She would hold it all day from, like, 9am until almost 2am because she was too scared of even the small fireworks...or any noises. And around here, nearly ALL fireworks are legal and they can legally shoot them off from June 27th through July 5th...until 10pm every night except the 3rd and 4th when the deadline is midnight (not that people actually abide by that law). So it was a LONG week. And while Bozley is a mama's boy and more comfortable with me...Nova's a daddy's girl and she gets more comfort from Johnny. So she wouldn't go outside with just me and Bozley except during Johnny's lunch break we could sometimes coax her out the door since he was outside. But even then...a lot of the times she would just stay by Johnny and wouldn't go to the bathroom...and most days there weren't big fireworks happening during that time. And all this is even WITH the dogs being on 100mg of trazadone to help with their anxiety! I'm just still shocked that carefree Nova was the one who was more upset than scaredy-dog Bozley. But she was only 6 months old during last 4th of July and she didn't come home to us until a couple weeks after that, so this was her first experience with so many fireworks in the middle of town. 

So...Ashlyn went to my grandparents' house but Johnny and I just spent the holiday at home. Sunday night Johnny grilled chicken, hamburgers, and hotdogs for dinner and we've been having leftovers. So that's always awesome! He even grilled two little steaks for Bozley and Nova to cut up and mix with their kibble as well. ;) The night of 4th of July we watched a movie on Netflix (with the volume turned way up to try to drown out the massive amounts of fireworks being shot off in our neighborhood): The Man from Toronto. It was a funny movie. :) 

Ooh and on Friday and Saturday we watched the last two (long!) episodes of Stranger Things! I really like that show. Hopefully we won't have to wait too long for the 5th (and final) season to come out. And last night we finally started watching Reacher on Amazon Prime. It's really good! We've only watched two episodes so far, but I'm sure we'll probably finish it this week. We've also been watching In the Dark each week since it's back on. I'm hoping Manifest will be back on soon, too. 

I've been busy lately! When I'm not working on editing photos, I've been working on CandiMaker stuff. I reorganized the sections in my Etsy shop a little bit and I'm finally getting everything ready to start selling my ready-to-press sublimation transfers. I have the listings written out and now I'm going through and creating all the listing photos that I'll use. I've also determined my pricing structure for them as well as shipping. So as soon as I have everything ready, I'll be able to get them all listed! :) I do need to get some more ink and sublimation paper, though. I'm not close to being out yet...but I don't want to run out while orders are coming in, either. I'm always excited when I start new "projects" for CandiMaker. :)

But...right now I have some transcription files to work on. I took off during the week of fireworks because I knew there would be too many disruptions. But...it gave me some time to work on other things as well. :) 

And on that note...back to work! :) 

Officially Summer!

 And...I hate summer. :P The heat doesn't agree with me at all. I have several health issues that are exacerbated by the heat and it's been in the 90s and 100s lately. UGH. 

Things have been good lately other than that though. We had a relaxing weekend at home with Johnny for father's day. We lounged in bed with the dogs and watched a documentary on Saturday. We are still loving the new king-size bed and being able to raise the head and foot of the bed. :) It definitely makes for some comfortable TV watching! And on Sunday Johnny gave the dogs a bath and I trimmed the fur on their paws for some in-between grooming until we can get them in to the groomer again. And then Aubry came over and the girls each gave Johnny a card and we hung out for awhile. It was really nice. :) 

Monday Johnny was off work for the holiday. We lounged around for awhile and then went over to my grandma's house to help her with a few things. We took the dogs with us and they had a good time. And Grandma always enjoys seeing them (and us, of course!). :) 

Tuesday Ashlyn and I (Johnny had to work) went to dinner with my mom and grandparents for Aubry's birthday. She picked Olive Garden which is always yummy. We just happened to get there as it started to downpour. And then when we were getting ready to leave it started raining again so we chatted for a little bit while we waited for the rain to calm down. It poured off and on all evening...which seems to happen every time after we give the dogs a bath. :P 

Ashlyn's new job is going well. She said they've even chosen her and another new coworker to be in charge of closing at certain times when needed. Her managers seem to be impressed with her take-charge attitude (she gets that from her mama) and ability to get things done and learn new things quickly. She wasn't sure how well she'd like the new job during training when they were at a different venue, but it looks like it's gotten a lot better since she started actually working at the facility. I'm glad she seems to be enjoying it. :)

I've been busy editing photos lately. We had some 4 generation photos taken a few months ago that I've been working on. It's taking me awhile but eventually I'll have all 155 photos finished! lol. But this weekend I have some transcription files to get done. I don't like to claim files when we have anything going on because I take pride in always getting my files back by the deadline and I don't like running myself short on time. So that's what I'll be doing for the next week or so. :) It'll be nice getting back into that groove. 

I can't believe June is almost over! I'm looking forward to July 1...that's when the final two LONG episodes of Stranger Things season 4 will be released by Netflix! We'll definitely be binge-watching those next weekend. :) I'm sad that there will only be one more season after this...but it's been a good run. 

But for now...back to work!

Another Productive Weekend

Most of the three-day weekend we lounged around. We watched the Season Finale of Blacklist and then binge-watched the first 7 episodes of Stranger Things. But I also got a lot of work done in the basement. We're getting an adjustable king-size bed so I needed to make room downstairs to store our queen-size bed. I still have some more work to do...but at least now we have room for the bed. :) We also did some spring cleaning in the kitchen. Johnny pulled out the stove and vacuumed and cleaned the floor and everything! I also did a little bit of purging and reorganizing on the counter and in the cabinets. Always a work in progress! We also sprayed around the cabinet under the sink and along the edges in the kitchen for ants and bugs. We do it about once a year. And of course I vacuumed and did laundry and got all the other normal chores done. :P 

I've also been working on my Etsy shop and trying to decide what direction I want to take it. I've been considering offering POD in my Etsy shop, so I've been researching that a lot. I don't think that's what I want to do right now though. I am planning to start offering sublimation transfer prints soon. I'd like to get a thermal label printer at some point to make printing shipping labels more convenient. Before I can print labels at all, I'll need to figure out the issues with our regular printer that we bought a few years ago. I don't know if it's just trying to die on us or if it just needs some maintenance. I'd like to get another (smaller) Epson EcoTank printer. That'll be a little while though. I'm also planning to start designing planner sticker printables...and I'd like to start offering printed sticker kits in the future but I will probably wait until I get a new printer to start doing that. 

I also have an idea of products that I will start making in the future to offer in my Etsy shop. It isn't something that I've found many people already offering on Etsy...and none the way that I plan to. So I'm pretty excited about that. But there are a lot of details that I need to hammer out first and some work that I need to do before I can make that vision a reality. But...I'm really excited for the future of CandiMaker! :) 

Another busy weekend!

This past weekend wasn't quite as busy as garage sale weekend...but it felt busy. It was at least a productive weekend. On Saturday I spent all day working in the basement. The night before the garage sale, Aubry came over and finished sorting and packing all the stuff in her room. She and a friend of hers got a small storage unit and they were able to take some of her stuff over there. So this weekend I worked on taking down the bed and the desk and getting the rest of the stuff out of her room. Then I moved almost all of the boxes of my mother-in-law's stuff into Aubry's closet. If the closet was just a little bit bigger I could've fit all of them...just needed one more row. 

I also moved all the cat stuff into Aubry's room too...their food and water bowls, litterbox, cat tree, etc. Then I moved the gate that we had at the top of the stairs to the door of Aubry's room. The dogs have been barking at the cats at the top of the stairs so I wanted to remove that "tension spot" as much as possible. It's really working out a lot better. Even without the gate, Bozley has no desire to go down the stairs...but Nova loves going down there. It's actually giving Nova and the cats some time to get to know each other without Bozley around. Boz and Nova tend to get each other worked up and being that excited makes the cats just want to hide. But when Bozley isn't around, Nova is a lot more calm and she will just sit or lay down and watch the cats from the other side of the gate. She goes down to check on them every once in awhile and then comes back upstairs. So it's nice that Leo and Angel are able to get to know Nova in a more calm manner than when Bozley is around. Hopefully Leo and Angel will start to feel comfortable enough to come upstairs again eventually. I mean...they seem content downstairs, we just miss seeing them more often. :) 

I also took apart our big dining room table Saturday and took it downstairs. It's a tall, hexagon shaped table and took up a lot of room. It's nice for big family dinners, but we only have those maybe once or twice a year anymore. So on Sunday, my parents brought over my grandma's dining room table. It's a smaller round table that has a couple leaves that we can use to expand the table when we have dinners. Grandma decided the table and chairs were just too heavy for her to move around while cleaning and everything so she has a lighter table now and we have a smaller table. :) And the wood of the new table matches our cabinets and floor better than the darker hexagon table we had. The only thing that's taking some time to get used to is the fact that the table seems so short compared to our old one! :P But it really looks good in the space and I think we'll really like the extra room. 

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I finally got all the stuff left over from the garage sale put into the plastic bins...at least the items small enough to fit in the bins. I still need to finish going through the basement AND decide where I'm going to store the bins (the basement or the garage) but I'll start working on that after I take a break. I'm way too tired and sore to work on it right now. :P It's one of those things where my mind is all, "Ooh this sounds like a good idea!" And then the next day (or week) my body is like, "Why are you so dumb?" LOL. But...now that all the stuff we sold or got rid of in the garage sale is out of the way, at least I have more room to work in the basement and the garage to sort and organize what's left. I am going to have to do it soon though...because we'll have to figure out what to do with our queen-size bed because we're going to be getting a king-size adjustable bed soon. :) 

In other news, Ashlyn has started training for her new job! She's just worked a couple days so far and then next week she'll start her actual job. This is her first payroll job and she seems to be enjoying it so far. :) 

I'm sad that the season finales of our shows are coming up or have already aired. We watched NCIS last night and the Law & Order SVU and Organized Crime season finales aired last week. Then Friday night we have the Blacklist season finale. BUT...one nice thing is that several other shows that we watch are starting up again. Season 4 of Stranger Things is being released Friday so we'll binge watch that after Blacklist. And then In the Dark starts again in about two weeks. I think The Boys has a third season being released next week. I was hoping Manifest would come back over the summer...but I think that won't be until late fall or something. But...you know...first world problems. :P 

What a year already...

So...Friday night at almost 10pm, Johnny hit a deer. Luckily Johnny is fine...he was just understandably shaken. The car doesn't look too bad. From what I can tell, it's mostly just the bumper, passenger headlight, and then of course the windshield will need to be replaced. And luckily the airbags didn't deploy. So we're hoping that it'll be an easy fix. I already filed the claim with the insurance company. With GEICO, they have a place where they'll do the estimate, repairs, and everything...all handled by the insurance company so we don't have to pay and then be reimbursed or anything. We just have to pay our deductible. We also can't pick up our rental until tomorrow. Since the rental company here in town deals directly with the insurance company, we shouldn't have to deal with that payment either. So that's all pretty convenient...well, as convenient as a car accident can be, I suppose. :P 

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Johnny didn't work this weekend and we've just been hanging out at home. I was working on my files a lot throughout the week (lots of interruptions so it took longer)...so I was definitely ready to relax. We watched the new episode of Blacklist. I'm so glad new episodes of our shows are back. We have a couple episodes of NCIS to catch up on too. 

I'm still loving our new air fryer. I have pork chops marinating right now that I'll cook in the air fryer tonight. It's a marinade-in-a-bag that I got to try for free from Influenster. And then tomorrow I'm going to make Vegetable Beef Soup in my new 6qt Instant Pot (I've previously been using an 8qt oval pressure cooker by Cooks Essentials). I may need to adjust it slightly to fit in the smaller pressure cooker...but we'll see. 

It's supposed to start snowing tomorrow. UGH. That means a lot of letting Bozley in and out and cleaning off his paws. :P He LOVES being out in the snow. But I think after the snow melts and it's less muddy in the backyard, I'm going to make Bozley's next groomer appointment. I also need to get the cats into the vet sometime to get updated on their shots and start microchipping them. They're NOT fans of being in the car OR being at the vet though...so I've been procrastinating. :P 

Well...I suppose that's about it! I hope everyone has had an enjoyable weekend!