A Few of My Favorite Things...

So my blog isn't entirely made up of posts where I recap my to do lists and how much I haven't gotten done, here's some mindless fodder for you :)

Some really cool things:

Logitech Revue, I got this for Christmas. It turns my tv into a computer, so I can check emails on my tv. The girls can also visit spoutonline.com on the tv. Totally frivolous, but totally cool.
Keurig Single Serve Coffee Brewer- Another fabulous Christmas present. Instead of the disposable K cups, I have one of these, so you can use regular ground coffee. Saves money and tastes yummy.


Starbucks Ceramic Coffee Mug by Jonathan Adler- This one was my Valentine's present. Gotta have something to put all that coffee in. Whenever I see it, it makes me smile.

ipad- I am seriously lusting after one of these. I've had 2 generations of iphones, but moving to Alabama and suffering through AT&T and a non-existent 3G network were just too much, and I sold my iphone to someone named Boris in Russia on eBay (seriously, I did!), and now I carry around a non-smart phone and a laptop. When the next generation of ipad comes out I will be seriously tempted, especially if it happens to come out around my birthday.


white sand beaches- We live 90 miles from these beaches and haven't been once in the 3 years we've lived here. Isn't that sad? Planning a short trip for spring break this year.

Well, there you go, a few things that brighten my day, hope yours is a little lighter, too!

Ups and Downs...

What a year 2011 has been already! So I thought I was headed in one direction with the business, but now a tiny clause in a lease contract has me back tracking a bit. So I guess I'm back where I started, you could say. Problem is, where I started was at a crossroads, lol. I need a new path to trod down, and my GPS seems to malfunctioning, lol.

Geesh, is that cryptic enough for you? Sorry, don't mean for it to be, honest. Basically, I was subletting space that it turns out, can't be subletted. It was an honest mistake, but it sucks. I can't sign a long term lease somewhere because we still don't know what the Army is going to do with us for sure. Its a viscous circle, and I'm smack dab in the middle of it.

{Small side rant on the definition of Army Wife Entrepreneur- I'll write this rant another day, and link it back here}

Weird thing is, I'm not panicking or having a breakdown (yet), just trying to think through all my options. More carefully this time. Any angel investors or millionaires reading this? No? Yeah, didn't think so. Its okay, I'll figure it out!

Aside from that, I actually had good news. There was a business program I wanted to participate in last year, but it was 1200 miles away, and logistically, I just couldn't make it work. Turns out they are going to be offering again in 11 months, and this one? Only 110 miles away from me!!! Its a ways off still, but I couldn't be more thrilled.

Tomorrow I indulge in a little retail therapy. Our small town 30 minutes away from the smaller town where I live just opened a Hobby Lobby, so I am heading that way, 40% off coupon in hand. I will also be trading in one of the girls old car seats at the BRU great trade in event to get JD this new ride and pick up a baby shower gift. And since I am still wearing all my maternity clothes (even though they don't fit and the baby is 9 months old), I have promised my husband I will look for some new clothes, too. Oh, and Starbucks, there will definitely be some Starbucks in there, too.

January in Review/February's To Do List

Here was my To Do List for January:

Start Couch to 5K (again) on the 10th I tried this once before, and I think I made it two days, but I'm going to try again. Really, I am.
Um, what the heck was I thinking? It's January! This really wasn't realistic at all. I'm moving this to March, when its warmer, lol.

Sunday Clean Up (9th- laundry and guest bath, 16th-kitchen, 23rd-living room, 30-dining room) Since it looks like we will be staying in Alabama awhile longer (knock on wood) I've decided I will go through the house, room by room. Not so much cleaning, cause I hate cleaning, and I'm not really good at it anyway, but re-organizing/de-cluttering/redecorating.
I actually did 3 of the 4 rooms I had planned! I will have to make posts for each room showing what I did, but progress!

Order 200 yards interfacing Not as easy as it sounds, trust me, its rather an ordeal, but I need to do it :(
Done! Of coarse it hasn't arrived yet, because of the super blizzard, lol. Even better, the price went down since the last time I ordered.

Left over pre-made inventory I think I have this figured out what to do with most of the pre-made inventory left over from the holiday craft show season, I just need to do it, lol.
Not so much...

Catch up on sales rep stuff Seriously, if my sales reps don't mutiny on me. Its a lot of tedious little things, missing key chains, some of them moved, etc. But instead of doing it one by one, I've let it pile up into this mass of to do's labeled "reps". Ugh, not looking forward to this one, but very much looking forward to crossing it off my list and having happy reps for 2011 :)
I hired a new rep coordinator and she's taking over much of these responsibilities for me! I'm very excited for this new direction the business is taking, although a little sad, as I forward all the emails from potential sales reps to Jennifer, thinking, as I hire more people, it creates more layers, and I might not get to know the new reps as well as I have some of the current ones (who are awesome, by the way, and some of the best people, who keep me going everyday).

Scraps Not a huge bunch of them this time, but enough to work with. I'd like to go through them and test out some new designs, make a few things.
{Ducks and hides} under a much larger pile of scraps that keeps growing...

New purses I have 3 new things that I want to get into the pipeline this month- a clutch, a child's purse, and a version of the scoop bag we had pre-mades of this holiday.
Nope :(

Taxes Must. Do. Taxes. Business taxes, get everyone's 1099s out to them , file business taxes and our personal taxes.
Haven't done my taxes, but I did get everyone's 1099s done, and January's commissions done as well.

Sadly, this is where I stopped :( I got none of the other things below done on my list.

Skin Cancer Screening Cause I'm paranoid.

Blog Gonna work on the bells and whistles- changing fonts, sidebars, widgets, the whole shebang. Then actually "promote" this little bloggy of mine, see if anybody's interested in reading it.

Labels Need to revisit the purse labels, see if its time to change them up, or keep them the same, and just order more.

Signature tag for emails Totally embarrassed to say, I don't have one. How sad is that? I just need to make one, will probably take 10 minutes. Been on the to do list for-ev-uh.

Form Emails Gonna revisit these to, just see if they need any spiffing up.

Website Updates Nothing major this time, just a few things I've noticed, like the lining fabric jpgs are out of order, wanna add the shipping discount codes to the description of each item, instead just in the headers, etc.

So February's To Do List looks like this:

Post Information for new rep sign ups
File Taxes
Premade Inventory
Scraps
New Purses
Skin Cancer Screening
Blog
Labels
Signature Tag
Form Emails
Website Updates

I actually do have new stuff to add to the list, but to save myself some embarrassment, I'm not going to post it, yet, lol. I'm not going to beat myself up about not getting more done though, I am just going to try harder for this month! Hope you all reading this have a fabulous, fun and productive February- that's my goal :)

Random, I know...

Heard this on the radio today. Its been a rough few days, the seriousness and melancholy sort of fit my mood, sadly.

However, not to be a complete downer, I'll post this as well:

This pretty much sums up the Facebook coomments of all my Texas and Oklahoma friends this past week :)