To cut or not to cut...

That is my burning question! I really want to cut some of my hair off (just to the top of my shoulders) but it took sooooo long to get it to this point and I don't want to regret it later. I am torn as to what to do. I keep telling myself it is only hair but I just don't know what to do. I have a love-hate relationship with my hair as it is. It has a mind of it's own but at the same time, I know how lucky I am to have the natural curls. My poor sister's hair is bone straight and so thin. So I know it could be worse! LOL Sorry Amy Jo!

Any thoughts? For or against.

I'm back online

Geez...How can something so new make you panic without it? We lost our internet connection late friday night. I was lost without it. What did we do just a few short years ago without it? We haven't had it all that long in my house. Just about 7 years is all. I needed to track orders and sales. I couldn't do either. Josh had some ebay stuff going and so he was in a panic too.

Now my next topic...
I have NEVER had a package delivered on a SUNDAY in my life. And I got 5 packages this Sunday! Two eLisaLou, a maddymoo, the uglydoll, and another gift! Call it fate but I wouldn't have gotten them had Josh not stopped by real quick to "just look" and see my boxes from Elisa came. Some one was standing on our porch as he pulled into the drive. He was writting up a note to say "sorry we missed you" and was going to take the Elisa boxes back with him. (needed a siggy for the insurance-good thing mind you) but can you imagine?!! He told the delivery driver, " you have no idea how happy you just made my wife!". He knew how stressed I was over the whole issue. Not that it was doing me any good...but stressful none the less!

So Josh called me from the front porch and said, "MERRY CHRISTMAS! THEY CAME!" Truth be told, I think he was slightly stressing too. He knew how badly everyone wanted their gifts!

Another great moment I need to share. We always get scratch off lottery tickets from Grandma Stiverson. We never win. But this year between the 4 of us we won $75! That is where Josh was coming from on sunday when he thought he would just stop to see. He was cashing in the winners! Zander won $48!!! William won $5 and Josh won $20 and I won $2~ LOL We are going to put it towards a new TV. Just, oh, say about $1225 more to go! LOL
Josh wants a 32" flat screen.

My house

Merry Christmas! Here are a few shots from around my house. I just love decorating for Christmas. We have a Family Christmas tonight with my Dad's side of the family. Missing a few gifts for them, darn post office. Can't they work on Sundays?!! LOL Oh well, that is not the reason getting together. It'a about family time, bonding, eating, laughing, watching the children play, and of course, FOOTBALL!

It's 1:30 pm and I am still in my pajamas! Ahhh.....holidays! Need to go get ready for the Christmas Dinner. Haven't ate yet today to save myself for tonight! And make up a flyer to wrap telling people about their incredible gift that is MIA.

Three down...

SEVEN MORE TO GO on my first MM party orders. I got one bag today. I was told that 5 shipped. Hmm...1, 5 what's the difference?! It's gotten to the point now that it is more comical than anything. I have moved on from p.o'd to not giving fly fluck. At this point, as long as they come, I will be happy. I am beyond embarrassed and I just pray that my customers don't hold it against me and will continue to shop for handbags with me and Elisa Lou Designs.

I am going to hold a Grand Opening Show in January sometime. Hope they give me another chance.

Well...how long before the other 19 bags come? YES 19. That is what I am waiting on.

Craziness

I can't believe how nuts my day has been. I went with my mom to go get a new JackRussel puppy for my stepdad this morning. She is so cute! Then I had to come home to find out the bottom was falling out with MM. I dealt with that for few hours and then had to go to the school to decorate my sons classroom as a surprise for the kids in the morning. Then tried to order chinese food with our local joint. TRIED being the word...Took them 3 minutes to figure out that I just wanted my Sweet & Sour Sauce on the side vs. over the chicken. Then I have to hunt down old Credit Card statements to have as a back up incase my MM bags are not delivered. Then I had to deal with customers calling and wanting to know where their bags are...NOT HERE was my answer and I start bawling. I feel terrible. But it's beyond my control at this point. I had one ask for a refund. I had an ebay christmas gift that I thought was not mailed to me. The tracking was in my spam folder. Problem solved there. Found out my bags were shipped from eLisaLou. (GOOD NEWS) THEN....I get a call from my sister just sobbing...she tells me my grandma's convertable that she was borrowing was stolen. WHAT!!! I was in shock. She had been home all day and never left so she wasn't aware it was missing. Well....long story short....The car was NOT stolen. Her apartment complex had it towed because she had it parked in her spot in the carport but that car was not registered as the proper car. WHAT A MESS. Then the towing company tells her that only the owner can remove the car from impound. SHE IN FLORIDA! So luckily my mom is POA for her and we believe my mom can help her get the car. So....that is how my day went. Craziness. I live for days like this! NOT!

Beautiful Funeral Home

I have never seen a more beautiful funeral home in all my life. Or maybe I am just not in one enough...thank goodness, but this was done so pretty for Christmas. I think were about 20 some trees decorated up in this place. And just unbelieveable decorations. The trees looked like could have been in a museum. I have never seen such precision. The one is the picture here was just HUGE and it had fake snow sprinkled all over it. The decorations were just balls but boy was it pretty. The first is my family, the next on is Josh's Aunt & Uncle from Concord, NC. The third is his Aunt & Uncle from Winston-Salem, NC. We don't get to see them very often and it was such a joy to get to have them here around the holidays! But not for this reason. Off to the funeral...

Holy Crowds...

Well, we had to return one thing already. Holy Crowds...I don't usually have to go out this time of year. WOW! That is why I shop early! I almost think it was worse than black friday. I just sat in the car while Josh ran in to return it. It was something from Best Buy...not my store of choice to go into. Give me a craft or fabric store anyday!

I got a Christmas card from California today! THANKS SHELL! I am bad...I sent them to our immediate family only this year.
Oh...AND....drum roll please.....



I got a Maddy Moo bag that was ordered on SEPTEMBER 27. A week shy of 3 months! NOT BAD....{rolling eyes, followed by a severe twitch} It's that same twitch that Scrap In A Snap gave me...odd....I thought I got rid of that problem.

Just sitting back waiting for all my online orders to start rolling in. The paper is ready to begin wrapping. Poor boys...they wonder why they have no gifts under the tree yet. It's because Mommy did a bunch of online order and I am still waiting for them to arrive! What a great way to shop. I just might continue this online shopping thing. I thought I might miss the actual hands on shopping experience. But after today, NOPE! Black Friday is my one an only time to brave the crowds.

Off to plan out our evening. We have family arriving from out of state today. Funeral Monday. Thanks for the well wishes at this difficult time too! It means a lot to know I have such great friends!

Huh??

Why is that just when you think you life is moving along smoothly and things are all kosher...bam....you are hit head on. This has a lot to do with side businesses. TLC just recently announces that they are going to start remitting sales tax for the consultant. My intial response was, Cool. No more dealing with that crap. But....now that I have sat and thought about what it means...It sucks. For me, who does major expos outside of my home state, it means that I will be paying twice for taxes. HUH???

I am just about ready to close this chapter in my life. I don't see how it will benefit those of us who are out trying to market TLC and working the business. I guess I will just have to do home state expos, ect. Which isn't good. Bev and I have created a great system on our expos and this really puts a wrench in the plans.

Still no voice...the boys are in heaven! LOL

No voice...

I have no voice and a very sore throat. UGH.
Must have been all the cheering for Erik on BL last night! LOL WOW! He looked incredible!

I ordered my business cards last night for Elisa Lou. Boy it's hard to decide on what looks good. I had it done several ways with many different combos. I finally just said forget and ordered them. Not good to do when you are high on cold medicine! LOL Hopefully no typos!

I have a funeral to attend Monday. Josh's Grandpa on his mom's side past away yesterday. So I will have a house full this weekend I have a feeling. We have family coming home from Florida, North Carolina, Indiana, and Muskegan, MI area. It will be great to see them but not under these circumstances.

I have a photo shoot on Sunday to do, gifts to finish making, gifts to wrap, gifts to buy, and dinners to plan. I am reminded daily about how many days until Christmas. This weather is screwing me up. It should NOT be near 55 degrees in Michigan in the middle of December. I can't get thru my head that it is crunch time. Just doesn't feel like it should be that time.

Still waiting on Maddy Moo bags from OCTOBER. I will be so glad to put that part of my life behind me.

Need to figure out how I am going to work Sales Tax with TLC now too. Out of state expos just seem too appealing to me anymore. paying double taxes. NO THANKS. There has to be a way around it...need to contact the account.

Stress...me? never...

Biggest Loser?

Oh man! Can you believe Erik!!! WOW! I am motivated now. I hope he takes it all!

Time will tell....

My night

Went to the Ann Arbor Comedy Club tonight with my Boss and co-workers. The head liner was Roblittle.com He was funny. Got a little 'dirty' at times but we are all adults. We can handle it! It was just a little uncomfortable hearing some of this in front of my male boss. I am very reserve in nature and for some of this to be said out loud in front of me was not in my character! But it sure didn't stop me from laughing at him!

We ate dinner at Champion House. It was ok. Wouldn't pick it again but would eat there again. One of those types of things. I had chicken...no surprise there! LOL I HATE SEAFOOD AND STEAK!! Maybe I should just be come a non meat eater. I don't really enjoy all veggies...so not sure what you would call me.

Off to sleep...

Charms-a-plenty Rep

http://www.charms-a-plenty.com/store/aGo.asp?aff=1064

Found these really cute charms and thought...why not. So I joined! BIG SURPRISE THERE! or not!

So if any of you ever need any charms for your projects...think of me!

Gift for Cousin

I have done a bunch of online shopping this year for the holidays. I got an order in yesterday! I made this for my cousin. I am going to put it in a 12x12 frame for her. I took these pictures of her children last weekend. It came from www.scrapbookpictures.com

The quality is great. The only thing I don't like is how I screwed up a coupole photos. I didn't realize that I used the same picture twice and then I distorted one when creating. It didn't look bad on the screen but in the print it is really noticable. So that is my fault not the companies.

This was done in PS CS2. It was from a template from Jen Caputo that I downloaded many months back. It was a freebie that I found one day while surfing. I never knew how to use it until I took my CS2 class this fall! That was the best $120 I ever spent. Well...hmm....I have spent that much on Elisa Lou bags and those still bring me enjoyment...so it's one of the best purchases I have made! LOL I hope she likes it. I sorta wish I wouldn't have put Merry Christmas on it but...It's Christmas TIME! She can just put it in an album when she is done displaying it for the holiday season.

I have a few more projects to complete now. We have a light dusting of snow this morning and the sun out right now! BEAUTIFUL! How I love the SNOW!

Uglydolls.com

Oh my! This are the best! I love unique items like this! Josh is on the other computer right now ordering for our youngest. He saw them while I was peeking at the website and starts, "oh Mommy, I want that pink one!"
www.uglydolls.com

Yes, Pink! My youngest son's favorite color is PINK! Maybe it's because he attends daycare with 5 other girls? Who knows. It really doesn't matter to me. Real men can wear pink!

We were just out shopping tonight at Target and spent over 5 minutes in the toy aisle trying to convince William that he can't buy any toys right now because it's Christmas Time! I have no one to blame but myself. We don't go out very often and when we do, I usually let the boys get something small. Not a good thing to have started.

Off to watch Biggest Loser! Love that show!

Holiday Photo

Here is the photo that I had printed for my cards before I made the one posted below. I am thinking I could always just put this photo inside the envelope with the other one. What to do, what to do?

Merry Christmas!

I was just playing around today with my LifeTimez. I really wanted to get some holiday cards done! I did a super fast photo shoot with the boys today just to get some pictures that I could use for our Christmas cards. Then I got the idea after I sent out for 40 prints of my favorite photo, that I would create a card front with LT. So now I am torn as to whether I should just put the photo in the card or just send out store bought cards with the photo enclosed as I planned. I will load the photo that I chose for my cards later. It is on my desktop. It's more or less the card because I PS'd it with a title and siggy. UGH....Decision, decision.

So tired...

I can't believe how tired I am. I just love this time of year and I don't feel so good and it is making me mad! We got some snow last night! YIPEE!!! I LOVE SNOW! I can't imagine what it would be like to have Christmas without the cold and the snow. To each his own...

I will try to get a picture of it for all my WARM climate friends!!
Speaking of friends...I need a favor. It's postcard time at our school. We need postcards from all 50 states. Plus any other part of the world. SHELL!! WENDY!!

Send them to:
Lincoln Elementary School
TEAM 111 Zander Stiverson
746 N Maple Grove
Hudson, MI 49247

I will email you all privately too about this just incase you don't read this boring blog for awhile!

The rest of the group!

Here are the remaining group of bags. Boy, the espresso was a popular print.