Wedding

Another major event for the month of May was one of my best friend's wedding.

 There's not a whole lot to share there since you don't know the couple personally. But I got really sick with strep or something about 2 or 3 days before the wedding. This is the second time this has happened, so I'm two for three.

I went the free route for  a day- taking Cephalexin. It made everything a LOT worse. My sinuses felt like they were on fire. So I bit the bullet and bought a Zpak. I couldn't smell or taste much, but I started to get better.

Everything happened in a frenzied rush, but Jon and I had an amazing time at the rehearsal dinner and the wedding itself. And the bride was stunning. Just stunning. We had so much fun that for the next week or so, Jon talked incessantly of wedding crashing.

 

I got some great ideas for future weddings of friends and family; for example, the photobooth was a smash success I think.

I kind of can't believe it's over. But I'm so happy for my friend, so excited to see how life unfolds for them in this new stage.

I'm still itchy just writing about it

So I've been thinking for weeks now that I needed to write. There's been a lot to say, but I just haven't. So tonight, though I should be going to bed early (-er anyway) I decided to do this. Naturally, I went back and read my last post to figure out where I left off.

I left off with Sienna being schooled in litterbox usage. Well things went from bad to worse. Not too long after I wrote that post, we had several nice warm days. Until we got time to reinstall the air conditioner, I just left the windows open. Oops!

Turns out, our front bedroom window had a broken screen- the left corner opened like a flap where the piping had come off. So of course, our bad kitty and one other thought this was their personal cat door to the great outdoors. Sienna and Squirrely both took off twice before I rectified the problem. Probably about a week to ten days later I found the presents they brought back: Fleas.

In my panicky state I read a lot of online information. This guy was pretty thorough so I trusted his advice. I messaged my soon-to-be Vet friend first asking for her help with Diatomaceous Earth. She had no idea what I was talking about. Not a good sign. But I went ahead and ordered a ten pound box of the stuff from Amazon and in the meantime, I spent HOURS every day flea-combing and then drowning my finds in soapy water. It was horrible. I only got bitten once, but the girls were covered in red spots, despite washing everything and vaccuuming every time I saw (or thought I saw) a flea.

Amazon had never failed me up to this point, but it took about a week for the stuff to arrive. I couldn't believe it. It was the longest week ever. I hardly got any sleep because I was convinced they were jumping on me and munching on me. Gross. While I waited for my shipment, I tried all of the other suggestions: flea traps with lights ( I was amazed that this worked, but still it only caught 3 or 4 over the course of the week), bathing the kitties (this just stopped the fleas from being able to jump. They could still zip around pretty fast though), rubbing the kitties down in baking soda (this was a substitute for the DE, but it still killed 2 or 3 to my knowledge), vaccumming constantly, washing everything, putting vaseline on the fleas to keep them from moving (this did NOT work. it clumped up the fur because I could not get close enough to the flea before it moved) and of course flea-combing every hour/every time I spotted one.

This had the most success. However I noticed the above mentioned article stated the most fleas he ever saw in a house at one time was about 30. I was pulling about 45 off EACH cat, EACH time. It was bad. Once I realized how high the numbers really were and that they were going down, but not dropping dramatically, I started to distrust his judgement a bit.

Cue Diatomaceous Earth. Luckily it arrived on a Saturday. As soon as Grandma arrived to take the girls for the day, I COVERED the house in this stuff. He says to sprinkle it low to the ground because, though it is safe to eat and touch, if you breath it in it causes lung damage. Easy enough I thought. Better than flea bombing with poison, I thought. As an adult, I can be careful, but my kids, they could be hurt by flea bombing, I thought. So I spread it around like peanut butter on toast and waited. For a couple of hours just in case. Then I started vaccumming. Oh. Boy.

Maybe it's because our vaccum is bagless. Maybe it's because it's not a Dynex. I don't know what the exact cause was, but the minute it started sucking up the DE, the filters were clogged and a mushroom cloud of lung-destroying flour exploded. Luckily I was the only one home. But it was an awful experience. There was nothing I could do about it- I had to keep washing out the filters and vaccumming. Over and over and over again. This went on for about two and a half days. Jon couldn't sleep at night because he could smell the DE. It wasn't strong, but he's sensitive to dust and dust-like things.

I do believe it worked a little- I found a couple of dead fleas on Sienna over the next couple of days, but it was NOT worth it.

Meanwhile, my Vet friend mailed me a 3 month supply of Advantage II for each of my kitties. The fleas were dropping dead within the hour. It's been about a week and a few new baby fleas are hatching, but this stuff works for 30 days. So the new ones should die before they cause any damage or lay any eggs.

Dante, who scratched himself raw, is healing and his hair is growing back, poor boy. The other kitties have stopped scratching and now that everything in the house has been washed and rewashed, things are starting to return to normal.

The moral of the story is, do not mess with DE. The guy above guessed that people use Fleabombing products because of the convenience and then they neglect to clean everything, or it ends up being more work to clean everything. I beg to differ. I will be using the flea bomb product Knockout in  the future because 1. it's what the vets recommend 2. it works 3. it works fast 4. it kills everything. It's worth it!

I'm sad that this has already consumed about 3-4 weeks of my life. But I'm relieved to be nearing the end. Now, I just have to get that screen replaced!

3 cheers for SSScat!

I may have mentioned that an issue we've had around here for the last year is that the baby of the family, Sienna, has been going to the bathroom on the carpet since Labor Day. She was about 4.5 months old when we got her last August. We had her for two weeks and everything was fine. Believe it or not, we only had 1 litter box with 3 kitties, which got scooped pretty much immediately after it was used.

 Then we went on vacation for 4 days and a friend of mine housesat for us. We walked into the house and found that Sienna had been urinating on the rug in the bathroom for what looked like several days. Gross. So so so gross. I cleaned the rug and she stopped peeing on it. But she started pooping right in front of the litter box, or next to it, every day after. We took her to a vet, got her tested. No issues. I gave her a second dose of dewormer just in case. I tried changing her to a kitten chow diet. I tried soft food. I tried a mix. I tried several different litters. I tried negative reinforcement. I tried positive reinforcement. We bought a second litter box. Then a third, then a fourth. I tried changing location. I tried floor mats. I tried different carpet cleaners. I tried closing her off for days at a time. I tried everything. She would stop for 4-5 days periodically. But it was inconsistent. I'd still been cycling through different ideas, because this is not just something you accept.

Jon and I were just thankful that she wasn't urinating on the floor. It was still gross and a major problem, but at least it wasn't seeping into the floors and making the place smell, and it wasn't staining anything. Then one night we had a stray kitten literally walk in our front door. I penned the kitten in the bathroom overnight and then took her to the human society the next morning.

Our problem went from bad to worse. Sienna started urinating in front of the litterboxes in addition to defecating there. I doused the bathroom in bleach products, every last nook and cranny. I washed or threw out the things the kitten slept in. It's been six weeks and no change. 

I finally found cat food that seems to be relieving some of her issues (there was a small amount of blood in her stool about 50% of the time). Kit and Kaboodle. It's cheaper, still by Purina, and it seems to be more filling because the cats are eating less of it. She started going to the bathroom in her litter box of her own accord. One success in my belt, I tried google again, despite the fact that it had been nothing but a disappointment thus far.

It was here that I found something called SSSCat. Kind of a dumb name, but a Godsend all the same. I read the reviews on amazon- 4-5 stars over hundreds of reviews. And thought I would give it a try. It arrived yesterday and is already having a major impact.

  

It has a motion detector, which sends a loud SHHHH-ing sound as it sprays the offender with a harmless spray. The other three kitties, all innocent, got sprayed first. But our bad one has gotten sprayed twice and now avoids the area at all costs. It was so satisfying to hear it go off when I had my back turned, because that would have been another mess I'd have to clean up and another day of misery.

I deep-cleaned the carpets and have the doors shut/SSSCat standing guard until they dry. I may have to buy another can or two, because she has a few areas she frequents and so the problem is only about 30% fixed. I don't mind though because it's working, which makes this the best $23 I've ever spent.
 

And, Bonus: When I'm convinced she has stopped going to the bathroom on the carpet, I'm going to use it to stop the kitties from getting up on the dinner table/countertops (and in Sienna's case, frequently catching herself on fire), eating my indoor plants/herbs, and scratching the couch instead of the post. Yay! It feels so good to have finally found something that works. 

mini update

Brief update!

Another NYR goal achieved: keeping up with the house. Now I realize I still have another half a year to go and I haven't done a stellar job up until this point. But the idea behind this was that I wanted to get our home to a place where I liked it and then keep up with it (in general) from there.

The reason I'm marking this as a success is because I finally took the time to finish a couple of projects around here: unpacking the last few boxes, packing up anything I wasn't going to use in the next year (aka before we move), and finishing picture/shelving projects.

I finally mounted those shelves I bought from Ikea a year ago, and you know what, it looks awesome- aside from the bottom one being ever-so-slightly crooked as I was too impatient, and feeling too empowered, to wait for Jon's help. I'm even thinking of buying a couple more for the living room. I finished hanging up all the pictures I actually wanted to hang up. And I rearranged some furniture and hauled a whole lot of junk out of the girls' room. Sidenote, it may sound weird, but I'm so glad that Jon and I were not always able to give our daughters everything they wanted. It got us into a great habit of teaching them to appreciate and take care of what they have. No one could say they're spoiled. Now we're trying to teach them a little more about money and how to save/spend theirs. This is a connected thought; it came from reflecting on how I like clearing stuff out of their room rather than packing more into it. Anyway, I got rid of about 1/3 of their toys, including one of the two giant bins they had to store it all. In it's place I put a new storage unit (though we have it set up like a desk) from Ikea. I got the idea from a friend of mine who is a genius when it comes to decorating and kid stuff.

Now I'm just focusing on keeping up with day to day light cleaning, which is just in time for the weather change. Less projects = more time spent with my family out and about in the sunshine!

Austenland

So a couple of weeks ago I checked Stephenie Meyer's website, which I used to do a LOT more frequently back when she actually used it, and though it had been longer than a year since she had posted the last time I'd checked, I was pleasantly surprised to see that she had started updating again! There were several lengthy posts complete with pictures and news on her projects. I got caught up and was excited to read that she was planning on spending some quality time writing. One of the projects that had kept her busy was producing a movie based on a book a friend of hers wrote. Evidently it became a best seller. So I decided to check it out.

If you like a love story that makes you chuckle now and again, you'll enjoy this. If you like Jane Austen's works and have daydreamed, particularly when watching one of the remakes, about living in the early 19th century, then you'll love this book. I've gotten period information before on what it was like to live during Austen's time, but they added some new information that you would need to know for day to day social interactions. Kinda cool- I love history lessons. Delving into some of the meat of the book, *spoiler alert* it was so refreshing to read about a character who was not sleeping around for once. She actually has a list of every "relationship" she's been in and from what I can tell, none of them mentioned sex, so the plot certainly didn't revolve around shallow, meaningless physical attraction, despite what you might think from the beginning of the story. I appreciated the narrator's and main character's disdain for infidelity and every attempt to be honest, despite the circumstances. I still read young adult, in addition to adult fiction, and it seriously was such a breath of fresh air to read about characters with substance for a change. What's sad to me is that I have a better chance of finding that in young adult these days than in adult literature.

I'm taking a women's literature class right now, so I know my professor and some of the other students would balk at the following, but part of me really prefers the way things were back then (1817). I know that unless you were a wealthy white male, your options were crazy-limited, your life could be pretty dull and/or hard, and respect was not wide-spread. I know that. Don't get me wrong, I love being able to wear jeans, or whatever I want really, and I appreciate the hardwork and sacrifices from women before me that allows me to make my own life decisions and gives me so much opportunity. But part of me wishes we could carry some of the modesty from 1817 to today, when divorce was to be avoided rather than encouraged, when sleeping around was scandalous rather than a hobby. Call me old fashioned, but for all the technology and advancement we have today, it seems that, at least in America, our lives are a lot more empty.

Anyway, while I wasn't blown away with the story, I really enjoyed it and everything it represented. This was book number 13 on my goal list of 25, so I'm just a little ahead of schedule. *happy* Since I have no other recommendations waiting for me, I'm taking a break from new material and starting up Harry Potter again. Hopefully in a month, I'll have more prospects!

The Vow

Another book on my reading list done! I read The Vow by Kim and Krickitt Carpenter in about an hour and a half today. It was one of those books you can't put down and, thankfully, it was a very quick read. It was also a true story. I love that, most of the time. A few nights ago, I was looking for something to keep me distracted while Jon went off to work for the night. So I picked out a movie I hadn't seen for a while: The Pursuit of Happyness. I was in the mood for feel-good inspiration. So I popped it in and settled down. It was great, Will Smith still impresses me. Then, as it was "inspired by true events" I felt the need to google the main character Chris Gardner and learn what was fact and what was fiction. Bad move. I'm not sure I can ever enjoy the movie again. If you've never seen it, stop reading this post and go watch it. It's a great movie and I don't want to ruin it for you.

*spoiler alert!*

So as it turns out, the business aspects of the story are mostly true, though somewhat condensed: what happened over a number of years in real life is squeezed into a few months in the movie. I could accept that. What really depressed me was the the personal parts of the story. First of all, in the movie, his son is five and its "us against the world" type of thing. In real life he was just a toddler and did not have much of an active role. Secondly, and much worse, there was no "Linda." No unfaithful wife. He was the unfaithful one. Chris Gardner was married and began an affair with a young woman who worked in the lab he worked at. This produced the aforementioned son. Then he left his wife. He didn't divorce her for almost a DECADE. Not long after his son was born, the other woman accused him of beating her (which he denies) and she left with their son. She didn't return with him until four months later. Despite all of his genius and impressive work ethic, their sacrifices and struggles, and his eventual success, I don't think I can enjoy this movie anymore. This man left a path of destruction while he selfishly chased his own pleasures and desires. I can only hope that he has repented for all of his horrible and painful decisions and that he lives his life the right way now, but judging by the fact that he allowed this movie to be made, I would assume not. To me, it makes him seem proud and arrogant. It's still a great story, and I can understand how laying the truth out would make the main character someone you'd rather root against. So then change all the names/places/dates etc, never reference who it was inspired by, and don't list all his to-date achievements.

This brings me back to The Vow. I hadn't heard anything about it. But I usually like sappy love stories and Rachel McAdams happens to be my favorite actress, so I intended to see the movie. Jon knew I needed some new books to read, and figured I had the time (or would soon) as my classes were winding down. He picked it up, read the first chapter and decided I'd love it, so he brought it home for me. Especially after my recent movie experience, I didn't expect the truth to be so much better than the Hollywood version. Now, I have not seen the movie, but I have heard that in relation to the book, scandal/infedelity was added to spice things up, and most of the religious aspect (i.e. the whole truth of the story) was edited out. Disappointing to say the least, but Jon pointed out that the movie will interest many people into reading the book and they will be able to give a real testimony to the miracle that God worked in their lives; all is not lost. I will still see the movie, but I'm so happy I got the chance to read the truth first. It makes me sad that Hollywood thought sex would sell better than miracles, but then again, I'm not really surprised. If you haven't read The Vow yet, I highly recommend it!

Progress for Progess' sake?

Not so much.

I had been debating about whether or not to take summer classes. The plan was to take two this summer, then 4 in the fall, complete my degree and then take a break from school for a bit. There were definitely advantages to this plan, apart from being done asap. For example, should we be moving next spring/early summer, this would free me up completely to house hunt, pack and move.

I thought the decision would come down to financial aid. So I filled out my fafsa early, applied for summer aid and then started looking at what classes were available that met my requirements. I picked out my classes, debating between taking on one or two and waited to hear back from financial aid. In the meantime, I researched different professors and went back and forth over what I actually wanted.

Then I got word that my application was accepted and processed. I would hear the decision and any applicable amounts toward the middle/end of June. What?! Yeah. When my classes were more than half over, I would find out if I would be receiving any aid. So then I went back and forth over the gamble. How could I not get aid? It wasn't really that risky. But then I hadn't taken summer classes before, maybe it was different then... Well, maybe just the one class then. But then what was the point? I'd have to take 5 in the fall (never doing that again!) or one in the spring. So then two. But what about the aid? Back and forth I went.

Then today, I finally decided based on gut and, I believe, some God-instilled peace coming from a sense of right. That's one of my favorite feelings. That radiating warmth coming from the sense that something, or everything, is just simply right. I decided to not take summer classes this year, thereby pushing my graduation off til next spring.

It does kind of bum me out that I will be deliberately crossing that off the NYR and I didn't give it my all. But I think some wisdom comes from recognizing that not every goal should be completed on the time frame you set for yourself, and some not at all. This summer looks like it's going to be pretty amazing. I don't want to tarnish that by heaping too much on my plate, as I've been known to do, and stressing myself and Jon out. I've asked the girls to sacrifice a lot over the years as Jon and I got it together. Before Ella starts Kindergarten, I owe her a summer with all of my attention (with Lily, too). Jon will no longer be working over nights and will be working a 9-5 job (more about that in a post coming soon). I can only hope that will carry over on to the fall for his final semester, but in the chance that it doesn't, I'm not willing to squander my time with him to study (week countdown is at 37 for those of you wondering).

Those are my two main reasons, but there are plenty of other little ones supporting it. Truthfully, now that the decision has been made, I'm no longer thinking about the drawbacks or benefits of the choice. My focus is forward. And I'm looking forward to a blissful, relaxing, fun summer with family, camping, vacations, bbqs, and bonfires. It's going to be amazing and I'm going to be 100% present, for a change. :]


**on a totally unrelated side note, I'm quickly becoming obsessed with this song and thought I would share: Eyes Open (Taylor Swift)

Books update- Lots of Jane Austen

Lately I've been reading both fiction and non-fiction. Jon, true to his word, took a spare moment to hunt down some hard to find Jane Austen books for me. I'm a huge Jane Austen fan and rather than just continue to read Pride and Prejudice over and over again, I thought I would check off one thing off my mental Bucket List (making a bucket list is on my bucket list :P ) and finish reading all of her works.

I finally finished Emma.

  

This was a little lackluster for me because I knew some of the plot, thanks to *spoiler alert!* being familiar with the movie Clueless and knowing it was based on this book. And it was a rather large book, so it took a little longer than expected. Overall though, I liked it. Jane Austen had been quoted as saying that the main character was one only she would like. It was definitely a strong contrast to her usual heroines, but of course she changed and softened Emma throughout the novel. I'm surprised Austen underestimated her abilities so much!

Then I read Jane Austen's biography. It was written by her nephew. Most of it was interesting and, I think, did her justice. I liked that he freely admitted information that was not proven fact or not his own. Sometimes it did get a little dry as it was sometimes information related to her rather than being directly about her. Sometimes I wonder how different her life would have been, and all of those she's touched, if she hadn't died so young, or if she had married. It seems that in the most social periods of her life, she wrote next to nothing. So I suppose, had she married, we probably never would have known her work. I feel kind of guilty being grateful for that, especially since she was believed to have been engaged for a very brief period (1 day actually, before calling it off) to a man. He left very soon afterwards (military if I remember correctly) and died shortly after. She probably suffered in varying degrees throughout the rest of her life. Luckily, her nephew, as well as her family, steadfastedly proclaimed that Austen was a devout Christian, so I look forward to knowing her in Heaven one day.

Anyway, after the biography, I did read the two manuscripts: Sanditon and The Watsons. Both seemed interesting, though the Watsons more so. I was thankful that because I read Austen's biography, I knew a few small details about how those stories were supposed to have finished. I never could have read them otherwise- I don't like to leave things permanently unfinished. Leaving something unfinished for weeks or months (or years in the case of my crocheting projects) I can deal with, but knowing it can never be completed? Nope, can't take it.

After the slow going non-fiction and fragments, I was really looking forward to reading a whole novel again, and I had one book left:

Persuasion.

  

I was feeling sad that it was the last bit of unknown I had in my relationship with Austen, but I was eager to dive in. About 5 pages in, I realized that I had already read this one a couple of years ago. The irony is that, apart from Pride and Prejudice, it is my favorite story she's written. I have no idea how I forgot that I'd already read it, but there you have it. That was a huge letdown.

Now I am reluctantly finishing the last book I have in my Jane Austen bucket list. It is a collection of her written letters to family and friends. I expect this will be the least captivating of the lot, especially as a fair amount were published in the biography, and without background information, I'm not sure how much I will enjoy it.

After that, I'm out of book prospects. I could really use some suggestions for enthralling fiction!

Budgeting

So I was looking over my NYR to see what I've neglected thus far and saw "Make a Budget and stick to it!" still listed. I was ready to cross it off as a lost cause- our situation is no different from any other year and it's not about to change before Christmas, so what's the point, right? Then I was reading one of my new blog obsessions and one of the sub-topics was budgeting and money. Someone commented that despite having a small budget, they still squirrel money away for vacations etc. And that, basically, if the money was out, they stopped spending. As the commenter put it, "I do not like jeopardizing those future trips, or how soon we can get into our own home." And that struck a chord with me. Worse than hurting how much we can save, we've also had to dip into our savings. I thought it would have leveled out by now and it hasn't.

Despite all of the adjustments we have made, the red numbers are still super high every month. I was prepared to accept it as unavoidable due to several facts: our income is unreasonably small, our little girls are growing and eating more and more every day, Jon and I are both students, which is expensive for tuition and materials, we've had bad luck- particularly with car trouble this year, and I'm building a business which continues to require money. But that commenter made a good point and I'm ready to try again.

Part of the problem has been discipline, but more often it's been the unexpected. Until Jon finishes his degree in December, we have a very small income to stretch a long way. This leaves little to no room for surprises, so when they happen (all too often!) it breaks my motivation to keep the budget going. But one of  the nice things about having a blog is that it can help keep you accountable if you're honest. So I'm hoping that with renewed effort, plus a light at the end of the tunnel (4 months down, only 8 left!), plus something to strive for (I will be home-hunting again as soon as Jon starts his new job, although this time I will keep my priorities in the right order) will be the right combination to keep this budget afloat. Wish me luck!

Life in Direct Sales

So I know some of you are wondering how my experience with direct sales is going.

Truthfully? It fluxuates. I'm inspired to write because I just reached my first goal: paying off my inital investment. It took me twice as long as it should have- Premier says you make about $200 a show. Our area's average is higher at about $250/$300. It should have taken me 6 shows to pay off my investment. It took me eleven. Now, to be fair, I knew some of these shows were going to be teeny tiny. Janie, my Premier "mama" and I were talking about how it seems to go one way or the other at first: either you get a lot of bookings- and therefore low retail, because people are saving their purchases for their own show, or you get a high retail and no bookings, which is rough because then your calendar is empty. I've been experiencing the first scenario, she's been getting the second. I'd rather it be this way though. When you're building a new business, it should build slowly and steadily. And it's hard to be able to plug into all the groups and meetings available, because I'm already wearing out my babysitting welcome to cover my shows. And anytime I'm not doing a show, I'm not in Jeweler mode, making the most of every personal interaction- I'm in Mom or student mode, cooking, cleaning and multitasking.

I know this company has so much potential, especially in my own life. And I can't wait to see what God does with it in a year from now. But until Jon is out of school and things quiet down a little, I'm just grateful for the small ways (that mean so much to me) that this is helping in my life: sharing this with my daughter, making a part time income doing something fun, and getting me out of the house to meet other women and not feel guilty if I have to leave the girls with a sitter to do so. I'm probably not a good advertisement for this company right now, in terms of inspiring people to join. But I'm doing okay. My lowest show was $0. The show fell short of the required $100 to qualify as a homeshow (otherwise it's just considered an individual order) and the hostess felt so bad and thought she'd wasted my time. So I used my profit to buy her "free items." It was not a waste of my time, and though she doesn't know I did that, I love to work a job where I can. On the other hand, my biggest show to date was exactly one week later. The retail totaled almost $1200.

I never know what I'm going to get going into a show, and I kind of love that. Right now, what I need from it is so small, that I trust everything is going to be just fine.

Now that my investment is paid off, I'm really excited to start making a profit and contributing to the bills. Any extra I make will go toward completing another NYR: paying off half of my school debt!

Other than that, my next goal is to way overbook the summer months while Jon is in an internship, and also to sign on another jeweler. I have one Premier daughter and she's off conquering the world now. I'd really like to sign another soon; mentoring, training and supporting new jewelers is actually a lot of fun. I know a couple of girls that I think would be a good fit. So I think I'm ready to take one on! Slowly, but steadily. :]