Sickness BLAH

Sunday I woke up feeling SO crappy. At first I thought it was allergies because my nose was stuffy/drippy. I kept taking Benadryl every 4 hours but nothing was helping. Monday I woke up and I felt even worse. I had so much pressure in my head and I was just absolutely miserable. I was taking Benadryl and Sudafed but nothing was helping. I ended up sleeping most of Monday. Tuesday I could hardly hear because my head still felt so clogged. It felt like my ears needed to "pop" but they just wouldn't. Plus my nose was all red from blowing it constantly for three days...so I was also super attractive. ;) lol. I've started feeling a little better each day since then but still feeling pretty blah. My sinuses seem to be draining in my throat now and I have zero energy. But...at least I feel better than I did at the start of the week! 

I've had quite a few transcription files to get done while I've been sick. Even though I wasn't feeling well, I did take a few more files. It was hard to work on while my head was so stuff and I couldn't hear very well...but I got them all done. I'm going to take a break over the weekend though. I have one more file due on the 20th but I'll start on that one after Easter. 

This weekend I'll be working on my new POD store(s). I'm working with two different websites right now trying to decide what products I will sell in which stores. I'm not sure how much I will actually do with these shops, but once I get it all set up, I will share all the details here. I'm far more comfortable with my Etsy shop so that will probably be where most of my focus is. And on that note...back to work! :) 

Hello April!

It's going to be a busy month! This weekend my mom, grandma, and Aubry came over to hang out for awhile and to have Cheez-It chicken fried steak for dinner. I hadn't made it for awhile and mom and grandma had never tried it before.  They really liked it. :) And then Easter is in a couple weeks. We're also getting ready for some 4th generation pictures with my mom and grandma later in the month. We have to coordinate outfits and everything for that. Plus Ashlyn also has prom at the end of the month. We already have her dress and scheduled her hair and nail appointments. Plus on top of all that we have to get ready for the garage sale next month! I'm both looking forward to and dreading the garage sale. :P I'll be happy to get rid of lots of stuff but garage sales are SO MUCH WORK. 

I've also been busy with CandiMaker stuff. I had some behind the scenes organizing that I wanted to get done. My spreadsheets are now more organized. I had them all in one workbook but I separated out all my spreadsheets related specifically to taxes and each tax year will have it's own workbook. I like having it all organized and completed throughout the year so I don't have to scramble at tax time to get it all ready. 

My Etsy shop is doing well lately. :) I have officially hit 50 sales as of Sunday! I think that's pretty good since I haven't done much in the way of promoting or paid advertising. From my first sale in September through the end of December I only had a total of 10 sales. Then by the end of February I had 19 sales. And then March things just really took off! It's basically the one bestselling design that made the difference. Since that's more of a seasonal design, I hope to have some new bestselling designs soon! :) It's still so exciting every time I see that I have a sale. And Johnny always tells me how proud he is of me. I'm really lucky to have such a supportive husband. :) Running your own business is a lot of hard work, and if your significant other doesn't encourage you -- or worse, criticizes you -- it makes that work even harder. 

I have a transcription file that I need to get as well. So I'll be working on that this week in addition to getting some more designs done and uploaded to my Etsy shop. 

I haven't really made any new recipes lately. I did make a regular recipe in a new way last night though! I used the air fryer to make cheeseburgers and tater tots for dinner last night. They were yummy! With the tater tots the air fryer instructions are on the bag already. But for the hamburgers I used fresh 1/2 lb hamburger patties and air fried them them at 375 degrees F on one side for 6 minutes then flipped them and cooked them on the other side for another 6 minutes, flipped them again and added cheese, then cooked them for another minute. Oh and I just use the McCormick Grill Mates Hamburger seasoning and added some smoked paprika to season the hamburgers. We're having leftovers for dinner tonight even though it would normally be taco Tuesday. :P I love leftovers! It's one less night where I have to figure out what to make. ;) 

I hope everyone is having a good week so far! 

Another day another dollar (or a few more)!

At the beginning of the week, I got all my transcription files turned in. I had quite a few disruptions so I ended up staying up late Sunday night to get them all proofed and uploaded. 

This week I've been working a lot on my CandiMaker Designs Etsy shop. I got some behind the scenes organizing done...like finally remembering how to reorganize the order of the listings. ;) And last week I was able to reactivate the But did you... DYE? listing that was fraudulently taken down...and I've even sold a copy of it already to an amazing person from the Trademark Watchdawgs Facebook group...who then used my "Thank You" coupon to make another purchase (one of my favorites, Witches be CRAZY). I just love the black against the rainbow watercolor. AND...it led to two more 5-star reviews on my shop which I'm SO grateful for! I'd love to know what more people think of their purchases. As of right now, I have 35 sales so far...and almost 20 of those are just in the last 30 days. My best seller by far is the He is Risen design...and Etsy shows that more than 20 people currently have it in their cart as well. I had no idea it would be so popular! 

I'm also branching out and uploaded my first spreadsheet to my shop! It's a Basic Etsy Profit-Fee Calculator that I use myself to calculate prices. I spent a lot of time setting up and perfecting my listing. I like to have everything just right. Now I'm working on a few more spreadsheets as well. I also want to get a few printables uploaded to my shop. I've been going through all the spreadsheets and printables I've made over the years and trying to get them changed to more generic versions to share with everyone. Now that I have the first listing posted, I can just copy that listing for future listings. It takes awhile to come up with the descriptions and tags and everything from scratch...but a lot of it is general information that can be used for other similar listings. So it should go more quickly now that I've gotten started. :) 

On that note...back to work! :) 

Hello Weekend!

I mean...it won't be much of a weekend since I have to work. :P 

Next week I may take a break to clean up the office a bit and get some spring cleaning projects done around the house. I need to make some headway in the basement and really start making progress getting stuff ready for the garage sale that we're going to have in May. I'm ready to get rid of all this extra stuff we have all over the place! Hopefully the weather will be nice during the citywide garage sales. With Kansas weather...who knows what it will be like. :P But...regardless of the weather we are DEFINITELY having a garage sale this year! We keep adding to our "garage sale stuff" pile(s) and then never having a garage sale. :P  

In other news...Nova had to go to the vet this week. We're not sure how...but she got a scratch on her eye. I wouldn't be surprised if it was from her and Bozley playing. They play so rough! But it's just a superficial scratch and they gave us some eye drops and meds to take care of it. And luckily eye injuries heal pretty quickly. That first night she was really trying to paw at it (and would grind her teeth when she was doing it!) but she seems to be doing a lot better now. She still squints her eye off and on and it waters every once in awhile, but she isn't pawing at it like she was. Bozley was NOT happy while she was gone! He was either laying down making growly noises or walking back and forth to the door whining. They do not like to be apart! He was super excited when she got home. It was cute. :) 

The dogs also got a bath this week! It figures...the day after they got a bath it rained/snowed. :P Nova didn't even like when Bozley was in the bathroom without her. She was whining at the door even though Ashlyn was trying to play with her as a distraction. LOL. The dogs have definitely bonded, that's for sure. We need to get them into the groomer again but we'll have to wait a little bit for some bigger paychecks. 

Well...I better get back to work! Hope everyone has a good weekend! 

Busy, Busy, Busy

I'm glad that my law enforcement transcription work has picked up lately. I actually didn't have ANY files in January and February. It did give me a lot of time to work on designs for my CandiMaker Etsy shop, but doing LE transcription is still my "main" job. But lately there hasn't been a lot of work available. I do try to be sort of picky about the files I take, though. I take pride in my work and have always met accuracy and on-time requirements. 

I've been working plans for other Etsy shops. I know that I'm going to start selling sublimation ready-to-press transfers at some point but I'll probably sell them from my current Etsy shop...but I haven't decided yet. And I've considered selling sublimated end-products...but I think *if* I do, it would either not be on Etsy at all or it would be from a different Etsy account that I have. It may Also not be limited to just sublimated items...but all my "maker" craft projects. It'll include things I've made with my Cricut Maker...projects using vinyl, cardstock, chipboard, stickers, etc. Again, I'm not 100% sure if I'll sell my physical products on Etsy, use a Facebook storefront, or if I'll just sell from my own website...or a combination of sites. I just haven't decided yet. 

I actually still have the store on my original Etsy account as well (linked to my personal account that I'd created for shopping on Etsy) but I never used it at all. I had considered using it to sell my paintings...especially when I was really getting back into when I was in college at WSU. I needed some fine arts classes in my college schedule to fulfill my degree requirements as well as more electives in categories other than behavioral science...so I was taking all the oil painting classes available at WSU. I'd forgotten just how much I loved painting...and I really loved having the time and space to do so. It got me to thinking more about selling my art...but back then I never really got around to figuring out all the nuances of selling on Etsy to actually start doing it. Now I've actually read through all the Etsy policies, I know how all their fees work, I've researched SEO, and I've set up all my spreadsheets to run my business that could be easily adapted to selling my artwork. But...I'm not sure if I really have time for drawing and painting on top of everything else...so we'll see. :P

But right now...I should probably get back to work on my transcription files! :)