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!