Decision decisions ....

I really dislike making big decisions. Back in August/September I put out some job apps, thinking I was on the way to being a single parent (again). But then Jesse came home, and we're working on things. I never got any call backs on the jobs. till today when I was offered a FT 7-4 shift @ a decent hourly wage. We could really use the $. The trade off is needing childcare early mornings for a couple hours for the littles (like 6:15-9a), and having MUCH less time for the candy biz. Adding $900-1000 to our monthly budget would help in a big way, especially with the holidays coming up. Course I am still working MK, still doing candy, still in school FT, and of course, still have 4 kids and husband. WWYD?

how do i ...

unlink my blog from facebook? I no longer want blog posts to post automatically on fb.Help!

7 Weeks and Counting

Looks like we will be headed back home to FL in about 7 weeks! I spent hours yesterday on the phone with various movers only to find many of them to be 3rd party brokers - NOT what we are looking for! So now we're down to choosing between 2 options - I'd love some input on what YOU would do!

1) Use Broadway Express - they drop a semi in front of our house, we load it up, clean the house, they drive it (transit time is 5-10 days), and we unload it whenever they show up, no guaranteed delivery date.

2) Use Federal Moving Systems - they bring a semi, load everything, take down big furniture, drive, arrrive in 2-3 days w/guaranteed delivery date, unload, put furniture back together, boxes in appropriate rooms. We clean on this end and unpack on that end.

Price difference is about $1000.

So what would you do?

Christmas in July

Tomorrow begins the South Carolina etsy street team Christmas in July sale! Check out the Storque tomorrow (http://www.etsy.com/storque/) for sale info and search XiJ on etsy to find the best deals!

The BIG Order

I finished the whole BIG order in a week and held my breath till it arrived on the 26th, only to be told they hadn't opened the boxes yet to look at them! Oh the torture of waiting! Turns out 2 of the boxes had LOTS of broken sunshines =( 1 box was in great shape but had nearly all broken lollis inside. Another box was smushed, but only a couple were broken. So yesterday the race began to get 96 more BIG lollis done and ready for shipping tomorrow morning. Oy!!

It's teaching me to mind the clock however! I have been both slave and master to the kitchen timer for the past 24 hours (minus a few for sleeping lol).

Woo HUGE Order!

I've officially made it in the candy world! This week I am starting on a massive 255 piece order that I personally created the molds for. They are 6 inch round suns with intricate detailing. All will be yellow and lemon flavored and awesome! I am so excited. The deposit has been received, the materials are all here minus the huge bags of sugar and bottles corn syrup that I will pick up over the weekend and Monday the insanity begins! If you have a minute, come check out some of the new listings I've put up at www.customcandycreations.etsy.com!

Been a while!

And I was doing so good too! Over the past month DH had prostatitus and spent 3 days in the hospital with it. Then he started getting new symptoms and after a week of tests they found he needed surgery to remove his gallbladder as it was blocked with gallstone sludge and was irritating his pancreas. Along the way I slipped on a wet spot in the bathroom from one of the littles drippy hands and broke my ankle. My nut job ex-h found me on MySpace, and since I don't use the account anyway, deleted it. I gave him dd1's email addy but she doesn't want to talk to him so no street addy or phone #. Has to be her decision because she's been hurt by him so many times already and she has come to this decision on her own. Today she is off on a trip to Carrowinds, ds1 is home sick instead of at the ballpark andi'm trying to get a candy order out before the mail run. Better get to it!

OOTH Easter Egg Hunt

Come on over and check out the OOTB Easter Egg Hunt hosted by 2 Crazy Chics!

Here's 1 egg to get you started - happy hunting!

SuperBowl!

What a game!! I just love it when there is a fight to the finish! I'm a girl who loves football, as long as it is interesting. If there's no real challenge, ya know - when one team is running away with it, I lose interest. It also bugs me when there's flag after flag after flag. Just get on with the game already! Wtg Steelers!

Made a Decision

I have decided that despite the side effects that happened the last time I used it, I am going back on birth control. Have a Dr appointment 3/3. No more praying! lol

Things They Say ...

1) About a week ago I asked Tori if she wanted to have a baby when she grows up. She says Yes, she wants a baby. I told her babies are a lot of work. She agreed with me "I know Mom, but I wanna be just like you cause you're the best mommy in the world!" Aww =*)

2) Haiden is sitting at the kitchen doing homework. Tori is next to him writing on a sheet of paper. I asked her if she was doing homework too and she says yup, I'm writing an essay!

Happy 09!!

Did you bring in 09 with style?! We sure did (NOT!) lol 1/2 the kids were asleep by 10. The rest of us went upstairs about 1030 with the intention of watching Dick Clark and seing the ball drop. By 11 we were all alseep lol

But guess what I did yesterday! No really, guess!




I got a haircut for the first time in about 15 years! I've had trims along the way, but that's it. Took all the dead ends off (about 4 inches), and got some face-fraing layers. I'm thinking of going back to my natural color to see how it looks, even though I've been blonde for a looooong time. Will post new-hair pics soon!

Is late better than not at all?

Merry Christmas! Yea so I missed posting that here on time! You know how the holidays are - too much to do and never enough time to do it! We had a good Christmas. Kids were all happy AND we didn't go into debt for gifts at all. We had prime rib for dinner - way yummy!

Also on Christmas the session grades were released - I finished with a 95!! My final score was a 92. Maintained my 4.0 and my status on the deans list! Go me! lol Seriously though - it is HARD to keep on this track sometimes while keeping up with the rest of my life too.

I'm currently running a sale on my etsy shop for pieces. Till 2009 get a 3 oz bag of pieces for $3, and I have reduced shipping on this item as well. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=17467052.

Also, I set a goal to do 100 faces in 100 days for Mary Kay - December was a tough month to start in, going to work my tail off to make up for it in January. Email me (summermomi78@aol.com) if you want to be a face model!

Plans for NYE? None here so far. What are yours? Any resolutions yet? I'm working on that ...

Done with Laws!

Last night I completed the final exam for my law class. I had a 95 before the final, so hoping to maintain my 4.0 gpa. This class was tougher than I anticipated and covered a LOT of material that was brand new to me. The rest of this month and January are going to be crazy busy I think. That's a good thing for the most part! Tomorrow DH and I are going to a MK Christmas party. Saturday we're hosting our 2nd annual holiday cookie decorating party and going caroling with friends from FamilyPlaytime Moms group. We're also planning a trip to the James Island Park to see the lights and whatnot. Lots of fun on the horizon!

Mary Kay

So I joined Mary Kay 2 weeks ago (www.marykay.com/summermartinez78). My unit it adopting residents of local nursing homes and giving them gift baskets donated by community members. The baskets include 2 or 3 Mary Kay products and are suitable for men or women. The cost to sponsor is $25 - worth every penny to help someone have a Merry Christrmas who might otherwise not receive anything this season. If you would like to participate email me - Summermomi78@aol.com - for details.

So BUSY!

It's been a while since I've posted. I have been CRAZY busy the past few weeks, and it isn't even holiday related. I have been doing mystery shopping for several years now but haven't done any in a few months because of the gas prices. They don't typically pay for the gas and there just aren't many local shops to do. However, I got a call to do 15 for a certain client who pays well and I can't turn that down. Each one takes about 20 minutes, plus the time it takes to upload the pics and enter the data online, total of about 45 minutes per location. They pay out $20 per shop which includes reimbursement for a small purchase that I keep. So for about 2 days work (including driving time etc) I'll make $280.

I also have been watching one of my daycare kids on the weekends so his Mom can pick up a few extra shifts to help with Christmas shopping. Helps with my Christmas shopping too since she pays well for the extra hours.

What else? Oh yea - school!! Man this class is heavy! I said that before right? It eats up a lot of time, probably 20-ish hours a week right now. I even fell down on my sleep vs school log - the past 3 or 4 nights I've only seen the pillow for about 4 hrs a night. I can't wait till Thursday so I can sleep in a bit. Jesse has to work Thanksgiving and black Friday =( Keep repeating to myself that this will all pay off in a few years when I get my degree finally.


ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....................

Wednesday

Cloth diapers, unwashed (by accident) in the dryer for an hour. OMG the stink. There are NO words for that. Apparently yesterday I loaded the washer, added soap, but didn't push start. Not realizing this, I asked Haiden to move them to the dryer. He never said a word about them not being washed/wet whatever, just did as he was asked. So they tumbled around in the dryer for a solid hour, spreading poop to every possible surface in there. ew ew ew! School = 1 hr + 2.5 = 3.5 hrs, anticipated sleep tonight = 7.5 ..... wow!

Tuesday's Time

My boy got his first real haircut ... =*(

school = 5-7pm + 7:30-9p, 9:30 -12:30 = 6.5 hours

sleep = 5 hours

More time

Here are the pics from voting day:
The crazy long line that took 2 hours, even with a line jump at the end due to cranky creaming kids.
And the crew of kids - never would have made it w/o Channy's help!

Study/sleep log for night of 11/10:

school = 3 hrs 45 minutes

sleep = 6 hrs 30 minutes

Logging on my blogging ....

Decided that I am going to track my hours of sleep vs hours of studying for awhile. Week 3 work for my legal enviro class started last night.

School = 2 hrs 55 minutes

Sleep = 4 hours 25 minutes

I'm dragging ... need to go pop a zipfizz!