Feeding Baby for Cheap...well cheaper

So since I am a stay at home mom I always try to get the best deals when I am at the grocery store. My newest challenge was trying not to blow the whole grocery budget feeding the smallest member of our household. Let's face it babies are EXPENSIVE between all the stuff they need then you add diapers, wipes, formula, baby food, and snacks and I am probably leaving out a couple of things that cost big bucks.

So I found a couple of corners you can cut to prevent needing a second job to feed your tiny tot.

1. Buy generic formula. I know some parents think this is "not doing the best for your child" but read the ingredients and nutrition labels, it has all the same stuff and costs almost half of the name brand stuff. I pay $11.49 for target brand formula vs. about $22 for the name brand. Wal-mart brand "Parents Choice" even has an organic formula for about $14 a can!

2. Buy the baby cereals for breakfast. When Carter first started baby food I was thinking he needed to eat only stuff out of a jar so he was going through sometimes 6 jars a day and eating mostly fruits and veggies. I started feeding him baby oatmeal with some rice or wheat cereal mixed with fruit and saved a TON. It is also super easy to make as you just add water to the flakes and you are done!

3. Starting at around 8 months (ask your baby's Dr.) they can eat yogurt and cottage cheese so take advantage. I buy ANYTHING that he can eat that is not from the baby section. It seems as though when you step away from baby-land EVERYTHING is cheaper. Keep in mind they need as many calories as they can get so find the whole fat products, and larger quart containers are cheaper as well.

4. Natural no sugar added applesauce is no different than baby apples. I buy a big jar for about $3 and it lasts a long time.

5. Make baby food whenever possible. This does not have to be labor intensive. I get ziploc steamfresh bags and frozen veggies and then use my submersion blender or food processor to make it the right consistancy.


I hope these little tips help, and if you have any other tips please feel free to share in the comments.

Ultimate Etsy Newbie Guide!

Tips and Tricks to Selling on Etsy

First of all you will have to figure out what it is you are going to make. Most people who decide to sell on Etsy already have a craft in mind. Do a little research as far as how many sellers are selling your same craft and how well there shops are doing. There are many sellers selling the same wares in the site and you will need to find out the best way to make your shop stand out. For example if you search “jewelry” on Etsy there are well over 56,000 pages of listings, what makes your product better than the rest? Once you have decided on what your handmade craft is going to be it is time to get started with your “shop”

Shop appearance

Your shop appearance is one of the most important things you should consider when it comes to being a great seller on Etsy. This includes everything from your avatar and banner to your featured products. For your shop announcement most sellers like to keep it short and sweet with some information about their shop, products, and maybe promo information or special sales. You want to make sure it isn’t so long that a buyer has to scroll way down to see your first products. Remember that many people are going to just skim over it so if there is very important information that you highlight it so it gets the attention it needs.

Banner

Two very important things when thinking about your shop is your avatar and your banner. The banner is the image that will show across the top of your shop, this is the very first thing anyone will see when they come to your shop. It should reflect the feel for your shop and many sellers like to include images of your items along with your shop name. Keep it simple and make sure that the image is crisp and not blurry. Although many sellers opt to buy a banner from someone who sells them it is simple to do and can even be created in PowerPoint.

To create a banner in PowerPoint:
1. Go to PAGE SETUP and change the size to 3.55cm width and 37cm for the height

2. Go to VIEW and make sure you have the FORMATTING PALATTE open, use this to create your banner. You can use all those shapes and functions and add images and text to your liking.

3. Select SAVE AS and change the FORMAT to JPEG

4. Go to SHOP APPEARANCE and upload your file as your new Etsy banner.

Avatar

The avatar will be found under PUBLIC PROFILE, this is the image that will show on your profile, shop, and in Etsy Chat and Forums. Most sellers use one of their products as their avatar. The simple trick to getting the right size file is to go to the item that you would like to use as your avatar and right click one of the thumbnails and “SAVE PICTURE AS”, this will save the photo the right size to upload it as your avatar. I usually just save it to my computer as “(item name) avatar”. Just remember if you have one of your items as your avatar to change to a new avatar when that item sells.

Featured items

When a buyer scrolls past your shop the first items they will see are your featured items. In order to select your featured items click on YOUR ETSY at the very top of the screen and when your items show select the ones you would like to feature by clicking the star next to the item, when the star is green it is already one of your featured items. Then to create the order you prefer your featured items to show click on FEATURED IN SHOP on the left side of the screen under the ITEMS heading. When on this screen move items up and down to create the order you like. One the first couple items will show on your shop main page, but buyers can also click to just see your featured items. It is also a good idea to switch these around some so buyers always see something new when they come visit your shop.


Policies

Another thing you will want to think about is your shop policies. Many sellers have their own ideas as far as what works for them in regards to returns, exchanges, shipping issues and lost packages, etc. Check out this for a lot of helpful tips!


Photos

Your item photos can be one of the most important things when it comes to your online sales. Almost every sellers still has some concerns with their own photos and still fusses with their existing ones to try to improve them.

Some of the best things to consider are lighting, staging, and using all of your slots.

Play around with different color backgrounds. I use scrapbooking paper, try more than one color with each item and never trust that the picture looking good on the camera screen means that it will look good on the computer.

Find something interesting to stage your items with in your photos...I have had a lot of fun with feathers and hanging earrings/necklaces off a martini glass.

use natural light whenever possible...I found that next to the kitchen window makes great pictures, but I still edit and brighten them more.

Always take pictures of your earrings hanging off of something because laying flat is not always the way they look on.

Use the "macro" setting on your camera (the symbol is the little flower)

More often than not the flash will ruin the colors in your photos.

Since people cannot pick up your items and look at them for themselves try to show all sides of the item

I like to include something to help show size, I recently started playing with putting a bottle cap in my photos because unlike a quarter it is international...as far as I know bottle caps are the same size all over.




Listing

Take your time listing your items, choose the best titles that will grab attention of the buyer. Make sure that you use the best picture for your first image since this will be the one responsible for getting the buyers attention. Describe all details of the item, including color and size in both inches and metric since you will have international buyers who don’t know how big an inch is. Don’t assume the buyer can see anything from the picture including exactly what the item it, if it is a pillow or a necklace make sure you state that in the description. Do a little research with your shipping costs, see what it really would cost before setting it if possible. You do not want to be charging $8 for shipping if it will only cost you $2 because buyers will know this and will buy elsewhere where they can find more reasonable shipping.

Tagging

Use ALL 14 tags! You have 14 slots to get buyers when they are searching for items, think about the following things when tagging:
What is it?
What specifically is it? Go beyond just the basic in very direction possible
Who is it for?
What color/s is it
What is it made out of?
What technique did you use when making it?
Where or how would it be used?
What syle/size is it?

Remember to try to use different tags for your items because that will funnel more people into your shop!


Promoting

There are so many ways to direct people to your Etsy store. Many of these would be social networking sites (myspace, face book, twitter), blogs, and interactions with people in your everyday life. Wear, use, or carry your items with you whenever possible. I try to wear a stand out piece at all times and carry business cards with my Etsy store website on them. Use your social networking stills to do that…network. Connect with as many people as possible and make sure they all know about your website! Create a blog and talk about anything you want, once you have people following use it to direct them to your Etsy site. People will want to buy from you if they feel like they have gotten to know you as a person. You can also use other people’s blogs to promote yourself. Try this list of blogs for blogs and tips on how to be featured in one of them. Think about the fact that the more people you drive to your store the more sales you will get. Some sellers get great results and increased traffic by doing giveaways through blogs or other mediums. Don’t just sit around and wait for someone to stumble across your shop because they searched the right words. Be proactive and don’t be shy about sharing your beautiful crafts!

Renewing

Many sellers swear by renewing as much as possible. Whether it works or not is still debatable. Most people say that 7pm is a high traffic time on the site and therefore the best time to list or renew. Regardless of if you believe that renewing your listings results in sales it does put you back to the top of the search results. The results work in order of most recent listings so if you and 150 other people have listed “Vanilla Soap” and you were the most recent person to post or relist yours than you will be at he top of the search results, same goes if you were the oldest lister of the item. Many buyers will not go to the 60th page of search results to find your listing so being one of the first to show is a much better bet. It does cost $.20 just like when you first list an item to renew a listing so keep in mind that it can add up.

Chatting and Forums

There are a lot of Etsy sellers that are also buyers. Reaching out to other sellers to let them know about your shop is a great way to get sales. Spend some time in the forums and you will get attention and also learn a lot of valuable information from your fellow Etsians. You will find the forums by clicking on COMMUNITY at the top of your screen and then click on FORUMS. Just remember to be kind to everyone in the forums and never call out a shop, meaning you should never talk specifics on any shop or transaction in the forums, that should be handled with Etsy Admin.

You can also get exposure in the chat rooms on Etsy and also meet some great people. One common chat room you will see is 5 MIN FS this is a 5 minute featured seller chat room. A seller is selected to be the “FS” or featured seller for 5 minutes and everyone can go to their shop and find things that they like and post them into the chat. To post an item copy either the entire link when on the item page or the item number which you will find on the right side near where you see who hearts that item. Copy either of those and paste it in the section on the right and a photo of that item and your avatar will show. To show a sellers name with a comment to them just click on their name that is next to their avatar at the bottom of the screen and then type the rest of your comment and press enter. The first person to buy from the FS within the 5 min is the next featured seller! It is a lot of fun and you can sometimes end up buying more than selling, but more promotion for your shop!

Teams

You can click on TEAMS under community too and this will take you to all of the teams that you could join on Etsy. Most teams will work together to promote everyone’s shops and therefore get more traffic with less of a time commitment on one person’s part. It is a great way to meet other sellers with similar crafts, interests, personal situations, or local people. Check out the teams and if you find one that interests you then look for their information on how to join.

Helpful links

You will probably create your own list in your favorites as you work your way through creating a shop and selling your heart out, but here are a few of the links I have collected along the way

Shop hearts

Was I on the front page?

Check if you were in a gift guide

Am I in a Treasury?

When will the Treasuries open next?

How many views have I had?

Etsyhacks... The all time greatest tools every etsy seller needs!

Pre-make a Treasury

Treasury West...The 'hidden' Treasury


Tag Finder...helps find appropriate tags


Make text links 'Clickable'


For information about craft shows in your area

Chris Brown "Ain't no monster" and he 'ain't' speaking English

So Chris Brown posted a video saying that he "ain't no monster" and all about his new CD coming out. First of all I know that it has become cool to be Ghetto and not speak proper English but when it gets to the point where we can barely understand what you are saying it it a little much. Secondly oh we must have been mistaken and it must have been your car that attacked Rihanna?! I mean look at her face and tell me again how you aren't a monster? I think any man who beats a woman isn't a monster because maybe that would give monsters a bad name!

I worked hard for my millions!

My sister decided we were going to win the lottery...correction...we ARE going to win the lottery TONIGHT!

I did the research on the best way to pick the numbers and got it down to an outline of how we were going to pick

2 odd 4 even and 4 low (1-27) and 2 high (over 27)
4 odd 2 even 2 low and 4 high
3 odd 3 even 3 low and 3 high

we picked our winning numbers and I headed to 7-11

Deciding on the numbers was the easy part because remember I have a 6 month old...I packed him up and we had to stop at the bank because I had to deposit a check so I take all 18 pounds of him plus whatever his carrier into the bank to the ATM and think about getting out cash but decide it was too many steps so I put the check in and we head out to the car.

We arrive at the 7 11 and I take the carrier out once again. We head in and I have no idea how to buy a lotto ticket. The cashier directs me to the back of the store where I see the kiosk and I get my cards and fill in my numbers.

I decided to play all 4 sets of numbers we picked on the TX lotto and one set of the numbers on the Mega Million drawing. I take my filled out cards heaving the carrier towards the front of the store to get my tickets.

I hand her the cards and once they print and I got my total I hand her my debit card...and find out you have to pay with cash...great! So she tells me I can buy something and get cash back so I grab the closest thing, a bag of peanut M&Ms (and I wonder why I can't get the baby weight off?!) and swipe the card only to press the "credit" button! So no cash back! Then she grabs a laffy taffy to ring me up yet again so I can press "debit" and get my cash. Finally all that hassle and I get my tickets which included a non-winning scratcher...but that's ok I didn't want to waste my luck on a measly $50K!

I will update tomorrow on what I am going to buy with my millions!

Teething Bites!

Carter at 6 months still doesn't have any teeth, but I am sure they are coming soon. He is really irritable and has been drooling and biting everything. And I had thought he was going to be 18 and still gumming his food. Then the poor already cranky kid rolled off the couch, he is ok, but he was even more angry! I gave him some tylanol and now he is napping, hopefully he will be a much happier little man after he gets a little rest. I just wonder why he had to wait until his Daddy went back to work to finally start cutting those teeth...I guess I am the lucky one that he decided to save all the "fun" for me!

Vlogemotions May 21st

If you would like to get involved with the Vlogemotions carnival please go check out Fort Thompson for the info and to post your link
Here is my 3rd Vlog and I got my new mini laptop that was my wonderful Mother's Day gift from my dear husband and I was having fun with the editing software...I will probably get more and more rediculous as the weeks go on with the editing... well enjoy!

Birthday Party for a hero!

Tonight was a fantastic night, we went to a suprise birthday party for Dr Mendeloff, who was Carter's surgeon for his heart defect repair. All of the kids got up on the stage and sang Happy Birthday when he came in the room. It was awesome and very emotional to see all the kids he has helped. Even he had a hard time resisting the tears.

balloons for Sweet Angel Kayleigh

Please check out Kayleigh's parents blog to learn about this sweet angel


We released 3 pink balloons in memory of her this afternoon

I "love" waking up at 3 am!

Hello fellow "Vlogemotion-ers" Go check out Fort Thompson to join the Vlog Carnival and see other vlogs!
Here is my secound round of "vlogging" it was a little easier than the first time, and a little hair and make-up goes a long way don't worry I am sure next week I will be back to my norm of ponytails and PJs! I just have a CHD meeting to go to..so I take the chance to get dressed and ready when I have an actual "outing". Enjoy...

Wonderful Song

How can a song teach you to appreciate your life even more?

I saw him on Oprah and practically squeezed the life out of Carter with a big fat hug!

Look at the Big Boy!

Finally we have freedom from the baby carrier!

I never realized how heavy that carrier would be once Carter started getting bigger, and I am not a big person either. At just over 5 feet tall it was hard if not impossible to see over the carrier when it was in a shopping cart. And then there is the added stress of the carrier not fitting in all carts, for example his carrier would fit fine in the top section of the Target carts, but it wouldn't fit in the Wal-mart carts, so I would have to put the carrier in the bottom part which would inhibit how much grocery shopping I could actually do because half the cart was now full of carrier and baby.

So officially yesterday we graduated to riding in the cart without the carrier! I was worried how he would do since he barely started sitting on his own and he still tumbles over from time to time, but the little seatbelt held him nicely. I did have one of those cloth covers and this one actually has it's own strap that you can strap to the cart and also has toys attached which helped keep a teething baby occupied. Now towards the end we started to have a meltdown as he got tired of holding himself up, but all in all I would call it a success!

My Vlog Challenge...

Thanks to Tim over at Fort Thompson I was challenged to create a VLOG I didn't realize how hard it would be to get in front of the camera and talk about my challenges this week, I kind of copped out by bringing in the baby! :) I was going to get dressed and fix my hair, put in my contacts the whole nine yards...but this way you get the real me...the stay at home mom who lives in Pjs and ponytails Enjoy...

My dear sweet cat is...EVIL!

I should start this story by letting you know that I get freaked out by little bugs...so anything dead...forget about it!

My cat uses the doggy door and goes in and out freely, it was not my choice, but he found the door and quite frankly not having to deal with a litter box is nice. I was feeding the baby and he comes in and I noticed it looked like he had something...turns out it was a dead bird! Not a tiny bird either...a dove! It's head was floppy so I know it was dead...whether or not he killed it I have no idea. I tried to scare him back outside but he wouldn't budge! He was just sitting there making the most awful sound like a loud purr with a soft bark at the end. Finally he took it back outside and started eating it. So I am pretty much sure that he will catch some horrible disease and I don't even want to let him back in the house (even though I will). Ew...I will never look at my sweet little cat the same! At least my dear husband didn't get a call to come home for an emergency dead bird removal!

Where you born in a barn and raised by a pig?

I am so sick of hearing about the "swine flu" and people's stupid questions regarding it. Seriously it is quite simple

1. Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze
2. Wash your hands...and this doesn't mean a quick rinse...wash with soap and water for 20 seconds! Sing the "happy birthday" song and THAT is how long you should be washing your hands. And not just against the Swine Flu...people that is gross if you leave the bathroom without sudsing up!
3. If someone is hacking and sneezing around you make your distance
4. If you are sick STAY HOME and DO NOT go the the Dr/ER call them to find out if they WANT you in their office possibly infecting more people
5. Keep your hands out of your mouth, nose, and eyes...that is how the virus on your hands enters your body.
6. You CAN eat pork...it has NOTHING to do with the meat.
7. If you get the Swine Flu you are NOT going to die...most people have had mild flu symptoms
8. You do NOT have to stay locked up in your house and cut yourself off from the entire world...just follow the guidelines above

The sad thing is that people have to be TOLD to do things like "wash your hands" and "cover your mouth" when these are simple things that we should be doing regardless of any outbreak of disease. Maybe this whole thing will will cause good basic behaviors that we were all taught as children to become a habit and hopefully we will see less people leaving the bathroom stall to walk past the sink and straight out the door...EW!

The Frightening Truth About the Internet

So I am sure we have all had those times where we felt that we have looked one too many times at someone's profile or updates. Be it on Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or any number of social networking sites. New sites seem to be popping up faster than you can "update your status" on the first.

The question comes to me now and then...who might be "cyberstalking" me?

We put out all of this personal information to keep in touch with friends and family and maybe even connect with a few strangers, but what about the people who are lurking on our profiles with no good intentions?

I heard the other day that child pornographers have been busted with children's photos even as young as infants and toddlers that were downloaded from the internet for their sexual pleasure. Just the thought of some total creep saving a photo of my innocent 5 month old for anything other than thinking he is adorable gives me chills.

With our entire lives posted on the internet for all to see do we really stop to think about who might be accesssing it?

So the Economy sucks...SO WHAT?!

I know that everyone has problems and issues in their life especially with the highest unemployment and foreclosure rate that seems to still be climbing. I feel that we have no one to blame (ie. presidents past or present) but ourselves. We got ourselves into this mess both personal and business. Our parents and grandparents didn't have as much access to a little devil we call "credit". Growing up in "The O.C." also known as beautiful sunny Orange County California I know all about having bigger and better than your neighbor even though neither of you could really afford what you had even before you wanted to upgrade.

Everyone is so maxed out and "house broke" or "car broke" because there is never enough actual money so they borrow and borrow and then borrow to pay off the borrowed money. I am not exempt from this so I am no Suze Orman telling you what you should and shouldn't do, I am in the same broke boat as everyone else wondering how in the hell I will ever be free from those creditors that helped me get lots of "stuff".

I think this whole recession is going to be great for America in the long run...after all what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger right?! I DO NOT believe we are dead yet. I also don't beleive we have hit the bottom yet, but once we do get there we can only move upwards.

So we have two choices...wallow in our sorrows about how broke we are and blame everyone under the sun for it being their "fault" or we can look at what is really important to us. I just had a baby boy and he has taught me more in his 5 months of life than I ever knew before. Not only did he fight for his life within his first week battling open heart surgery to repair a Congenital Heart Defect, but it also made me see what really matters.

You can take away the money, the gadgets, the "extras", but you can't take away that baby's love...everytime he looks at me. He doesn't know what kind of car we have or how much his toys cost, or even how many inches that big screen TV is in our living room. All he knows is that he is loved and happy to have that love.

I look at it this way, stressing about the situation is NOT going to solve anything, it is only going to make things harder and make you more miserable. Secondly, you cannot change the past so don't have regrets about it, you can only live your life from today on. Also don't focus on what you don't have look at what you DO have, because I can guarantee there is someone out there who is in a worse boat than yours, and maybe they need YOUR support.

This is a time to focus on family and relationships more than money and "stuff" because guess what...you will be remembered for the impact you have made on people...not by what kind of car you drove or how much money was in your wallet when you passed. Use this time to give what you have to others whether that be a hug, a listening ear, or maybe a shoulder to cry on, but know that by helping someone else you are helping yourself.

Stay positive...there are brighter days coming America!

My Evil April Fool Prank

So I was thinking all morning of how to prank my husband when he came home from work and then it came to me! Although I thought about digging out one of the 3 positive pregnancy tests from when I found out I was prego last year (is that weird that I still have the pee sticks?!) I had a much better idea! I do special FX make up and have a whole kit and everything so I added a ever so (not) subtle bruise to Carter's head while he was asleep in his swing. My husband will be home in about a half hour so I will have to update you on his reaction and if I was actually able to keep a straight face while he asked what happened...but until then check out the photo!

Why doesn't God want me to shampoo??

So when I was still pregnant I tried to come up with something I could do from home to make money and stay home with Carter...so after much struggle and thought I realized there was one obvious answer...put a shampoo bowl and stylist chair in my house (which we hadn't even bought yet) and do hair! I got my cosmetology license when I was 19 and had done hair on and off for mostly friends and family since I left my last salon at 20 to pursue the 9 to 5 life.

Fast forward to now...our house has a small living area in the back yad (like a "mother in law" quarters) where I decided to make into my salon. Well now that I am not pregnant and not yet making money we dove in to tackle the remodel. This place was in BAD shape before we started...I mean it was going to need much more than a fresh coat of paint and curtains. We still are working on the plumbing and we have to install a hot water heater for my shampoo bowl and everything.

The first shampoo bowl I got from craigslist and it had no drain...no nozzle...no fixtures...nothing! I sent my parents about 40 miles to pick it up while I was still at the hospital with Carter so I had no idea of this until after they paid $75 for it. Plan B was to buy a whole new one because I could get one with all the fixtures for as much as I paid for just the bowl the first time. As I looked all over craigslist I finally found one on Ebay that had everything and cost about $100 with shipping. YEAH I have a shampoo bowl!!!!

When we were putting the shampoo bowl in last week the washer that is also the bracket that holds it on from the bottom broke in half! Now this is a BRASS bracket in a very unique W shape and it is necessary to hold the fixture on!!! I called the company on Monday who was going to send me a new one. The mail comes on Wednesday with a standard size enevelope from the company and I open it to find....a piece of folded foam paper with NOTHING inside!!!! WTF?!?! How first of all does a BRASS washer crack in two and then I get an empty enevelope with nothing in it!!! Off to Home Depot I went last night to try to get something that could work...and they tell me there is nothing they have that will work and to try a muffler shop who could probably weld the two halves back together. Meanwhile I am trying to get paneling to go 24" up the bottom part of the walls to cover where part is concrete and not very pretty and they have what I need but 4' so I figure they can cut it long ways for me and their saw was broken! So we went to a second Home Depot and they didn't have the same paneling! Then it turns out you need special stuff to weld brass so it can't be done by people near me so the company has now attempted to send me the part again...hopefully it actually gets here!

Etsy Shopping Spree

I went on a small etsy shopping spree today, sending a tea sampler to my mom, a super cute skull bag to my sister and an awesome handmade journal to a friend. I have added quite a few items to my favorites from these and more wonderful artists who put so much love and hardwork into their creations and I know that something handmade means so much more and I think that even applies when someone else made it. I really hope they enjoy their gifts and I hope this has inpired you to check out Etsy for awesome handmade creations for all your gift giving needs...and maybe you will find something fantastic for yourself! :)

CHD Awareness Week

I was blog jumping and I found a great CHD adult survivor blog Inspiring Hearts, there you can find lots of stories of CHD survivors and I find it a great resource for CHD parents. Everytime I read stories of these adult survivors and how they lived their childhood I feel that it affects how I raise Carter. He was born with TGA and I feel like he deserves to have a regular childhood and not be sheltered because of his heart defect. His cardiologist says he should be able to play sports and run around like every other kid and if he can then he will. I try to do everything I can to raise awareness of CHD and I hope he will do the same when he is old enough to share his story on his own. I hope that he will show off his scar to help people understand the number of babies born with heart defects and that they should support such a worthy cause. He will be a strong kid who will grow into a strong man and he will have an outward symbol of how he fought to survive and blew away the expectations of his healing time after his heart surgery. I know my kid is one tough cookie and will go on to inspire people and motivate those who hear his story.

Makes me more excited to watch Carter grow

This video was shown on a blog I follow The CHD Blog it is a great inspiration and shows how awesome it is when these kids effected by CHD grow up to lead pretty normal lives...

Spend wisely...

So we have had to try to cut back...way back...since I quit my job to stay home with Carter. I have it down to a science to spend about $120 for 2 weeks worth of food, and I have just started cutting coupons so that should go down even more. So we are faced with our tax return money coming and the list of things we "should" and "want to" do with it are endless. We are getting a good chunk of money back, but I worry it will go away quickly without many productive purchases being made.

Here are the ideas so far

1. put money away to go to europe next year
2. pay off debts
3. fix up the house
4. buy a treadmill
5. stock up on groceries and paper goods
6. pay off medical bills
7. go on a cruise to the Carribbean
8. buy a stylist chair for my home salon
9. put some in savings

Technically we could do a little of all of the above, but I am trying to figure out the best balance, Ray wants to split it 50/50 and do what we want on each side, but I find that highly unfair because I am the "mom" and I will just end up blowing all my money on bills, groceries, and necessities while he is the one who wants to probably play a little and then spend some on the house. I think we should stick together and make a budget for the refund before we spend a dime or I fear we will blink and it will be gone and we will have no idea where the hell it went.

I am cyberwalking to support CHD

Please support me as I raise money for CHD for their walk on Feb 21st, I am going to raise at least $500 and I need your help, any donation even as little as $5 will make a difference. Please email me at meganatpef@aol.com so I can send you the donation form. And if you can forward my email to anyone who would be interesting in donated it would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you for your support.

When the baby carrier almost won...

I bought one of those baby bjorn type carriers before Carter was even born because I knew I wasn't going to be able to carry him in his carrier for long...let's face it...I'm weak sauce! So last week I was trying the carrier and I tried to plop him down in it and I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get him arms out...so as I am prying he is fussing because I was totally tugging at him so I dismissed it as him being too small and gave up.

Last night I was bored and sorting his baby clothes so I picked up the directions which I never looked at before, I guess I was a man in a past life. Sure enough I am a dumb ass! You are supposed to release the latches so the front comes completely down and set him on your lap and then fasten it all around him....so I tried it and sure enough I HAVE MASTERED THE BABY CARRIER! So I learned when life gets too hard...read the directions!

I am a Blogging Virgin

Welcome to my blog for all of you reading this...and to me...welcome to blogging.

I have meant to do this for a long time and I finally sat down to start.

So this blog will be dedicated to everything that goes into making me who I am...however boring, interesting, or embarrassing it may be.

To start I grew up in Southern California...the OC...and it is NOT like the TV show...I grew up in Northern Orange County which is a world of difference from Southern Orange County. I attended college for a little while and then decided to go to Cosmetology School, I have always been creative but not very artistic and I had to learn that there was a difference. Doing hair was a great creative outlet for me and I found that I was very talented, but it was hard work for little money trying to get a clientele built up so I went to do the 9-5.

I found myself always seeking "something better" so I had many jobs and was always moving to another company or another position and had a struggle against myself trying to decide if I should go after money...or passion.

When my son was born in Nov 2008 with a heart defect I quit my job as an Insurance Agent and decided he was the most important thing I could do with my life. He was born with a life threatening heart defect called TGA (Transposition of the Great Arteries) which was repaired with open heart surgery when he was just 3 days old. We found out he had a Congenital Heart Defect when I was about 21 weeks pregnant, they found a white spot on his heart that they wanted the Neonatalogist to take a closer look at...it was supposed to be "nothing" but it was something alright.

I am a very analytical person so I gathered the facts and learned as much as I possibly could about CHD, I am still learning more now. I didn't cry or get emotional when I found out or even when he had his surgery, part of it was because I knew the facts, and part of it was my extreme faith in the doctors and his surgeon...I just "knew" it was going to be ok. I am not really religious but I consider myself a person of "faith" and it was my faith in just knowing he was going to be ok that helped me through.

Once he was ready to go home I knew my path was going to be difficult, I was bringing home a newborn who just had heart surgery and I was still recovering from my C-section...and then add the fact that I needed to find a source of income...and quick! I had planned on doing hair from my home, but I doubt many people wanted to be flipped into my kitchen sink to have their hair shampooed. I had been making jewelry and had created a "catalog" that I had my husband pass around his office to try to sell as much as possible. I am shocked now that people ever bought anything considering the awful pictures they were shopping from.

Then I stumbled upon Etsy...and I created my "store" http://www.excellentcreations.etsy.com/ it has come a LONG way from when I first started listing items and I am learning new tricks all the time. I donate 10% of everything I sell to the research of CHD, still with all the advancements 20% of kids born with a heart defect won't make it to their first birthday. They need funding...and a lot of it. I know my store will not donate huge chunks of money...but every little bit helps.

Thank you for reading my blog and if you stumble across my store and find something you love, please know your purchase will be going to a great cause!