the problem with buying things all at once

Busy week this week! When you get married and later buy your first home,
usually the next thing on your handy-dandy to do list is to buy all of your
appliances for your new house (unless of course they came standard). Its
quite nice because you get a great deal on the prices on these things when
you buy them all at once. There is a problem though.

Sometime around your fifteenth wedding anniversary, it comes time to pay up
again as all of those appliances start to die.

This year, we had a washing machine give up the ghost, despite a few repair
person visits. Thankfully someone from church had an old washer they were
not using, and so I was able to use that, until it also died (it was not in
great shape to start but it tided us over). Then the dryer gave up the
ghost, though that was not as urgent--I am able to put the laundry outside
to dry if I must, though I really don't feel like using a washboard to do
laundry for 7 people. After we got the dryer fixed (thankfully not needing a
new one), we knew we had to get back on track saving up for a new fridge,
because that had been misbehaving for a couple of years. We bought it on
clearance, with a no warranty policy, knowing the model was not made for
very long because of some problems they had with it. Still, it was all we
could afford back then, so we did it. Many years, and many more ruined
groceries and expensive repairs later, the fridge finally decided to go out
with a finally bang.

I woke up Monday morning, groggy as I always am in the morning (definately a
night person), poured a cup of coffee, blindly reached into the fridge for
the milk, and started to pour when a nasty smell hit my nose about the same
time I heard "Plop, Plop, Plop". My milk was now solid and smelling like
yogurt left on a hot rock in the sun on a summer's day. I opened the fridge
with my eyes fully open this time, and realized my butter and cream cheese
had both melted down the front door of the fridge, which felt hot to the
touch. The inside of the fridge was warm except for the very back, which was
frozen solid. I was almost afraid to open the freezer. In it, the Ice Cream
we had just bought Saturday Night was encased in frost, and everything
looked frosty in it.

Thankfully, we had been saving towards a new fridge, but we were not quite
ready for this anyway, because we also had a car in the shop. Repair bills
are such an unromantic and unfun thing to spend money on, aren't they? LOL

Monday my husband and I went out and looked around and different Fridge's at
different stores, comparing prices and seeing what was available. After
praying and discussing the matter we decided on a fridge we saw at Home
Depot, with a bottom freezer, and an alarm that lets us know if a child has
the fridge door open too long. It also fits seven gallons of milk in the
door, not that we ever buy that many at once. Still, it's nice.

I went back on Tuesday to Order it. Tuesday I was supposed to go to my
friend Toni's for some sort of home party demonstration for one of those
direct sales companies, and I had a child with a sinus infection still home
and on the couch, but on the mend. So, I decided to leave the kids home with
my teen daughter in charge while I first went to the credit union to
withdraw money from our appliance savings fund, and then on to home depot,
and swinging around to pick up some dinner on the way home for them (a rare
treat!), before heading off to Toni's. I arrived at Home Depot, and there
was a mad rush in the fridge department--five other families were there
buying refrigerators on Tuesday afternoon. A nice fellow who doesn't work in
that department helped me out, though it took a bit longer as he is not used
to ordering these things. By the time I got up to the checkout a full hour
had passed--so much for in and out!

I went through the self check, hoping that would be faster, as everywhere
else there were long lines. Well, as seems to happen when we are in a hurry,
something went wrong. The checkout girl had to key in my order information
by hand for this as I was paying with both a check and the cash from my
emergency account, but accidentally she hit that I gave her four million
dollars instead of four hundred! At first I thought maybe I won a
contest--you know, like the "lucky millionth customer" or something, because
my checkout started to spit out money at me, and the floor soon had tens and
twenties spilling out all over it. Soon, I realized actually the computer
didn't know what to do, or how to give me 3.9 million dollars in change. As
funny as it was, it soon became rather unfunny as they couldn't figure out
how to void it all out, and how to actually ring me up. I was there for
another super long period of time, before my daughter, Ruth, called to ask
where in the world I was (my parting words were, "I'll be back in an
hour"--3 hours ago). I finally just went home, and let them call me when the
succeeded in ringing it all up.

Finally, the good folks delivered my fridge, and hauled away the old one.
The fridge seemed smaller in the store, but this thing is HUGE. the kids all
think it is really cool (pun intended). So far, so good. My milk is still
liquid, my butter is still solid, and no lettuce has frozen in the crisper
yet, so I would have to say, mission successful.

Well, the only thing left is the stove. I better start saving!

Blessings,
Kimberly

Work at Home (part two)

More on the whole Work at Home topic....

 

These are some more questions I've been asked from others about working from home.

 

<<How do I find out which work at home program out there really is legit and will work for me?>>

As I said in my last post, I have only lost money on those work at home "programs". I've pretty much
done them all too over the last 14 years. I used to think I was a bad
salesman. I wasn't. I just didn't have a passion for what I was selling, and
I was unable to sufficiently fake that passion when trying to get people to
open their wallets.

What works is this: Find something you are good at AND are passionate about
AND love to do, and pray hard for wisdom as to how you can make money doing
it while researching whether or not there is a need in that area (ie, you
are not trying to do the exact same thing that 300 other people are
doing--which is why work at home programs don't work for the majority of
people who sign up--just those who are go-getters who could sell snow boots to someone living on the equator). If you are not PASSIONATE about selling what you are signing up for, how are they going to sell enough to support you? If you are not
passionate about selling mortgage services from some work at home company
program, how do you expect to sell them? You won't in any significant
amounts!

My husband didn't think he had any potential self employment prospects
(after all, what he does requires a machine that costs about half a million
dollars and we are a little short of that amount :P). Then he realized, he
is passionate about what he does, <I>but that doesn't mean he has to have an
expensive machine to share that passion</i>. He can train people (which I might
add he was doing for free to be a "nice guy" for the last few years when
people would call and ask for help, because he already had a great
reputation). He has developed a training module, and he goes into companies
that have just laid out the half a million but don't know what to do with
their cool new toy, and teaches them how to use it. Instead of giving them
the same training that the tech support gives (from people with engineering
degrees who have never actually ran such a machine but understand
theoretically how it is supposed to work), he gives them practical, hands on training,
catering to the accounts they already have, from someone with 20 years in
the field. He is also working on an ebook and possibly some Camtasia-powered
tutorials to demonstrate CAD programming for Wire EDM. For the ebook, he is
dictating into a digital voice recorder, because he hates writing, and I am
going to make it sound good on paper. :) Hubby also makes money by putting a
box for returnable (10 cents in Michigan) pop cans next to his machine at his
regular job. It pays for his gas for the week.This is creative money that costs him
nothing extra!

Just to give you some more examples of creative thinking, I am going to
share some things my kids have done. Just a little bit of ingenuity, and
they made some money this summer. All of these are simple ideas, not "get
rich quick" schemes, and all were incredibly successful....it just took at
little bit of creativity (And children who like to fall asleep listening to
Alice Seba podcasts and the audio book of Rich Dad, Poor Dad).

I don't want to give away too much (because it is such an original idea),
but just this past week my 13 year old daughter came up with a business idea
based upon this principle that I think is nothing short of brilliant. It is
based on something she is passionate about, a need that is as of yet unmet
in the world around us (or so it appears from preliminary research), and
that is within her budget and skills to start. For school over the next few weeks, one of her assignments is going to be working on developing this idea further, and developing a Business Plan in the process.

My son has also made money with two gumball vending machines. The first one
is located in a Tire store (where customers wait for their cars to
get done staring at the three selections of candy before eventually giving
in. If they are waiting too long they buy fresh gum when the old gum gets
stale!). We empty out the "loot" every week, and he grosses about as much as
me (he's 11). Within a few weeks at this place, he bought a second gumball
machine on Ebay. The other one we didn't find a place for yet, but my son
and I agree that right now it is also in a lucrative spot (it's full of
skittles and located next to dad's computer). We empty that one every three
weeks. Before that, we let people borrow it for their garage sale, and we
paid them 10% of the profits. It was full of quarters each time. Ever
thought of owning a vending machine? Cheap start up! Even a kid can do it!
Are you passionate about candy? Do you have anywhere nearby that would let
you set it up? Judah filled a need (something to chew on or eat while
sitting in a car repair place)--worked within his passion (can't resist a
gumball machine)--and shared it with others (sold the idea to the manager of
Kan Rock, and placed the product in front of a captive audience).

My three youngest children (ages 9, 8, and 7) came up with a great idea this
summer when we had our garage sale. Because it is always so hot and we are
always so thirsty at garage sales, when we had our garage sale, my girls
asked to buy several cases of pop, and several bags of ice. They filled the
coolers with pop and ice, and they charged $1 per can of pop (the cost we
figured at $0.30 per can including ice because of a sale). They also sold
Popsicles for $0.50 (they were bought in a box of 100 for $1.99, and we sold
300 Popsicles at my garage sale alone). After this worked well at my garage
sale (They made more than the garage sale did), they decided to ask friends
who were having garage sales if they could have the coolers at the garage
sale, and who can resist cute little girls asking this question? They
actually worked at 6 garage sales this summer. Filled a need (everyone wants
a cold drink while garage saling)--worked within their passion (they all
like soda pop on a hot day)--shared that passion with others (made sure they
took a refreshing sip when customers were around).

Be creative. Ask the Lord for Wisdom (James 1:5). If it's His will, He will pave the way, amen?

 

<<Can you seriously make money online, even with very little start up money (under $100) and what do you do if you do make
a living this way>>>

The short answer: YES, and it grows every week. Read on for the
much-too-long-but-hopefully-inspiring version with the nitty gritty
details...

I am definately a Newbie at this too (but an expert at failing at network
marketing programs and work at home schemes). I have been gradually
increasing my income via my businesses, and it has amazed me. My husband
and children are also breaking into the entrepreneurial game too.

The main thing I think I have learned over 14 years of TRYING and failing is
that we can't look for a formula, or a "work at home program" or anything of
that sort. We've got to be creative!

I have two websites. The first (www.joyfulmomma.org) I sell books and
ebooks that I have written on it. I also sell books and DVDs from other
entrepreneurs (those products which I have personally found useful and of
value). My niche is books, ebooks, and resources that would be a help to the
average mom who wants practical advice. Additionally, I have several
affiliate marketing links on my site which bring me in some cash from time
to time, though I have to admit that I don't market those quite as
aggressively as I probably could.  My second website is
www.kimberlyeddydesign.net , where I market my web and logo design services.
This past year, I have done 6 websites, with logos, custom artwork, and so
forth. I've done several banner ads for small businesses. I absolutely love
animating things. it'sbrought in a steady stream of income. I have tried to focus in on marketing
my web design business to a niche (those that want an attractive, custom
website--thus far my clientele has been freelance artists and musicians, and
one mom with a home business). I am by far not a "programmer" but I do have
an artistic eye, and I am trying to market to that end. I am getting ready
to revamp that site some more, now that I have grown more in my skills and
also in my understanding of marketing--but praise God I've been too busy
getting paid to do other people's sites that I haven't had time.

I have an upcoming line of products that will combine those two....video
tutorials for logo design, graphic design, animation, and so forth.  There is a need for good, practical, computer graphic and art
instructional materials for homeschoolers. I hope to fill that need.

The key is to think out of the box. Look at the skills that God has uniquely gifted you with. You have something that no one else has, that can bless the world, while at the same time helping you to earn some extra money (or even eventually supporting your family).

 

blessings,

Kimberly

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
www.joyfulmomma.org
Check out our all new bookstore, with more exciting products to encourage your family, plus my all new ebook, "The Basics of Frugal Cooking"
www.joyfulmomma.org/bookstore

Work from Home Programs? (Part One)

I get asked a lot of questions via email. One of the recent questions I Was asked bothered me in particular. You see, I was trying to have some residual income by having Google Ad Sense ads on my site, thinking this would be a great opportunity to both earn a small amount of commissions, and also help spread the word for like-minded sites on the internet. Sounds good, right?

 

Well, google started putting ads on my site full of "work from home" offers geared towards fleecing moms who want to stay home with their children. I have tried to change my settings, and things would be ok for a while, and then suddenly--whammo! My ads were again for work at home programs.

 

I thought I had fixed it once and for all when I got an email from someone that asked me which work at home program would I recommend for moms who want to stay home, "from those advertised on your website". My heart absolutely sunk, and before doing anything else, I took the ad-generating code off of my site once and for all. Instead I now just have links to products and services that I have personally used and recommend, mostly in the form of either affiliates or banner exchanges.

 

Sadly, I was unable to respond to the person who wrote to me, so I am hoping she is reading this. My computer crashed and I lost everything in my in box, which was quite a bother! I thought I knew the name, but I don't have an email address for anyone with that name.

 

So, what's the problem with work at home programs?

 

The problem with them is not so much the Working at Home thing--though we need to exercise self control there, as working at home can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how we handle it. We need always focus on the basics first--taking care of our family, and having time for them, instead of spending hours taking care of a business. A business can be every bit as much of a 'job" as going out and getting a job is (sometimes with a smaller paycheck, sometimes with a bigger one).

 

The problem I have is, after participating in many "great business opportunities that are perfect for the Stay Home mom wannabe", I have been out both time and money, and that in large amounts. Just recently, someone I know went to a meeting to hear about a great online business opportunity, where for only $1200 they will set you up with your very own website, and your very own company. That is so sad. You can do that for so much less! I pay only $10 a year for my domain, $10 for my DBA license, and $14 per month for my hosting, and I did all of my own webdesign. All my friend would have been getting in this "great deal" is a canned website, and some overpriced products to sell. And sadly, THIS is what most of those "Work at Home Opportunities" are.

 

Another friend's mom signed up for one of these, and got a "free" computer with it. She has to pay $500 a month for the next three years but was assured that this amount will "completely pay for itself". She's not even sure what she is selling, but hey, she got a free computer! (for the record, the most recent Dell Computer Catalogue has a fine system listed for under $500! There is a cheaper way, than getting a "Free" computer with your agreement).

 

But enough of the negative stuff. what about some positive stuff? Obviously I am a work at home mom. I do make some money online, and my business doesn't run my life or drain all of my time and money. Where, besides these scams, should a mom whose family needs extra money turn for some advice?

 

As you may have heard before, successful people do what they love to do, and do best. I love to write and to design things--and I do it well. Therefore, I believe that is why I am successful as a writer, and successful as a designer, without it being a drain on me or on my family. Think about the skills that you have, and how you might market those to fill a need that others may have. Businesses that are trying to do exactly what everyone else is doing are going to die, unless they are run by expert sales people--that's why some people do well in those programs and others fail. Also, it is much easier to sell a product or service that you really love and believe in, over and above trying to sell some products just for the sake of selling stuff and making money. If you aren't passionate about it, you are not likely going to be very good at getting the word out, and selling.

 

Also, moms especially need to learn to work smarter, not harder. When I was breaking free from signing up for work at home programs (I did like 10 of them, no kidding--I guess I don't learn too quick ;))....I decided to have a home crafts business. Well that is a great idea, if I enjoy spending every waking moment making crafts, and then going out and selling them en masse. There simply is not enough hours in the day for a busy mom to succeed in such a venture and still have a LIFE. On the internet there are many ways to make money without spending all day long doing it---finding products you really love and believe in, and then promoting those as a retail website, for starters, or selling a booklet you wrote (better yet, an ebook--low overhead!). As a work at home mom on the internet, you are not a slave to normal work hours or limited to only selling to those people in your immediate vicinity. I live in one of the poorest counties in Michigan, where it seems every other house is up for sale, and all of the factories are closing--but Praise God, I don't have to sell to people who live around me (who have no cash). I have had customers in Malaysia, India (Hi Anitha! Waves!!), New Zealand, Vanuatu (I had to look on the map to find that--but there ya are! Used to be the New Hebrides Islands where Missionary John Patton served), the Canary Islands, and I just sold several books to someone in Poland. The point is, if you have a niche product of high quality, and a reasonable price that people want...even if it does appeal to a small niche market...you have the entire world to market to, increasing your chances of success.

 

I could go on and on about this, but I won't. Maybe another day. But, here are some great resources (FREE ONES) that I have found recently.

 

First of all, there's some great Podcasts out there. What's a podcast? Well, it is sort of like a radio show that you can subscribe to and download on your computer. If you go to www.apple.com/Itunes and download Itunes (for free), and then click on "music Store" in Itunes (Sadly they don't always have great photos on the front page of their music store--so use caution there)...and click on "Podcasts to your left hand side. There are lots of good ones if you search Ebiz, or WAHM that may help. The two I love best are:

 

Work At Home Moms Talk Radio (that is weekly and it's geared to moms, with stories and interviews of moms who work from home)

 

Ebiz Vodcast (this is a video podcast that talks about websites, online store issues, payment acceptance issues, etc.)

 

Rich Dad Podcast (sometimes audio, sometimes video)

 

Entrepreneur Magazine's Ebiz Podcast (good general info)

 

Also, there is a lot of great information out there on websites like Family E-Biz www.familyebiz.com, which has a great free newsletter that is packed full of information. I also like the information (and products) at www.aliceseba.com and her other website www.internetmarketingsweetie.com which has great info about marketing.

 

Entrepreneurs-at-Home Yahoo Group (go to groups.yahoo.com and search for it) is a discussion board for budding entrepreneurs.

 

There is a better way, besides just signing on the dotted line for this exciting opportunity (and living to regret it)

 

 

Blessings,
Kimberly

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
www.joyfulmomma.org
Check out our all new bookstore, with more exciting products to encourage your family, plus my all new ebook, "The Basics of Frugal Cooking"
www.joyfulmomma.org/bookstore

sprained ankles and unrequested down time

I have been doing a lot of work outside, clearing up the garden for the
year. Today I was out picking some more tomatoes, when I did something
really dumb. I didn't see a tomato cage lying on it's side in the path until
I had both feet in it, and I was falling down. Ugh. I hate it when that
happens.

First of all, I hate feeling stupid...nothing like falling face first into
terra firma to make you feel really silly, especially when it is the result
of not watching your step. My mom used to always call me "Princess Grace"
and it was not intended as a flattering term of endearment, but rather a
sarcastic reference to my lack of grace when doing simple things like
walking. I am a total clutz at times, though I've gotten better as the years
wear on. Still, It would appear that sprained ankles are becoming a yearly
thing for me. No, wait...maybe more frequently. Just this past spring, I
tripped on a rock and landed prostrate on the ground, thankfully throwing my
hoe clear of my body instead of landing on it.

Then there's the pain that is involved. Skinning your knee is one thing, as
we have all done as kids. But skinning your forehead and the tip of your
nose really smarts. I have a bruise on the top of one of my feet where I got
tangled in the wire tomato cage (yes, I was barefoot, as usual), and my
ankle is again swollen. I have been elevating and icing it all afternoon,
and taking Arnica Montana, which seems to help the swelling and bruising
when this sort of thing happens.

Finally, there's the fact that injuries to ankles tend to earn me
unrequested down time--time in the Lazy Boy, with my feet up. For me, that
is pure torture. I hate sitting for long periods of time doing nothing. I
couldn't even sit here and do something on the computer, as that would have
required me to put my foot down, and my husband wouldn't have any of that.

I have two large bushels of concord grapes that I need to can tomorrow, and
one bushel of tomatoes, and yet I know from experience that I really need
to stay off my feet for a day or two, to prevent this from being worse, so
this should be interesting. ;)

On a lighter note, I've spent a lot of quality time today reading Mary
Poppins by P.L. Travers to myself. I had forgotten what a funny book that
is, and how entertaining it is. I promised the kids I'd start reading from
Robin Hood tomorrow, but I think I'll read Mary Poppins next too! What are
you reading with your children this week?

Coco

Sometimes when I start telling too many stories about life at my house, life
growing up, or the many adventures I have had as a world traveler in my
younger years, and especially when I start to wax poetic about our many
house pets (past and present) people think I am either quite a good story
teller, or they insist I should write a book about all of this stuff. I can
assure you, I couldn't possibly make some of this up--it's just to weird. As
for writing a book, I've thought about that too. I am not sure what sort of
market there is for a book containing disjointed essays about my adventurous
life, and I am also not so sure I want the entire world reading about it. ;)

When I went away to college back in 1987, I think my parents only feigned
sadness, and soon replaced me--with a Carin Terrier mix puppy. The first
time I came home on break, I was greeted at the door at 2 am by something
that resembled a Tribble (<---reference to a Star Trek Episode), which
immediately began to chew on my foot and bark (at the same time). I also
found out that the dog was given permission to live in my bedroom and sleep
on my bed, and had apparently not been too happy that I was sleeping in
*her* bed. Yes, my parents gave my room away to a dog.

Being, at the time, a reporter and columnist for the highly respected
newspaper, The North Wind, up at Northern Michigan University, I immediately
vented my anguish in a "For What It's Worth" column, which then gave me my
first pile of fan mail (before that I seemed to specialize in flames, so
this was a turning point in my writing career). Trust me, there were several
blogs' worth of material in my adventures with Coco back in those days. Even
one of my professors was horrified to hear from my own lips that, no, I did
not make it up, and yes, the dog really was given my bed and my room, and
indeed, it does look like a Tribble. My column was too long for me to
include a photo.

It's funny to me that most of my friends and acquaintances from college
still, to this day, mention Coco the Tribble-dog, and are usually surprised
to hear she is still alive, and to hear further adventures about her. She
now lives with my mom and her new husband, and shares a crate with her
step-dog-brother, Hans (who is, amazingly, older than Coco). Coco still
seemed young, though she had grown slightly blind (my mom will bang her dog
dish so she knows where the food is), and often gets down steps by rolling,
and then shakes it off, wags her tail and runs along like a little puppy,
even at her age.

In fact, my kids had a hard time with saying "Grandma" when they were
little, so they always called my mom Coco. Eventually they called her Coco
Grandma.

Well, friends, Coco left this world the other day. I was not really
surprised, as she seemed to be getting sicker, and I knew my mom was going
to have to make "the decision" sooner or later, but just didn't want to. It
was somewhat sad to hear the news, especially since she resulted in my first
"popular" piece of writing.

By the way, I have all of my old writings from my North Wind days--EXCEPT
that piece! Yes, folks, I even have the in-depth reports that I did with
Stephanie Williams when I found out about them thinking about dumping
nuclear waste in the U.P. way back when...but I don't have that one. I know,
because I looked for it shortly after my mom called to tell me they buried
Coco.

This may sound sort of inappropriately funny, but after digging the hole,
and before putting her in, Hans (the older-than-even-coco dog) FELL INTO the
grave, and they had to rescue him out. As I said before, I could not make
this stuff up if I tried. I haven't even started to tell you about all of
the dogs and cats I've had since I moved out--another time maybe?

So, if there are any of you sweet NMU Alums out there who remember that
column (it would have occurred sometime between 1987-1990, though I believe
it was in the earlier years), please send it to me. I'd super appreciate it!

COCO

Sometimes when I start telling too many stories about life at my house, life
growing up, or the many adventures I have had as a world traveller in my
younger years, and especially when I start to wax poetic about our many
housepets (past and present) people think I am either quite a good story
teller, or they insist I should write a book about all of this stuff. I can
assure you, I couldn't possibly make some of this up--it's just to weird. As
for writing a book, I've thought about that too. I am not sure what sort of
market there is for a book containing disjointed essays about my adventurous
life, and I am also not so sure I want the entire world reading about it. ;)

When I went away to college back in 1987, I think my parents only feigned
sadness, and soon replaced me--with a Carien Terrier mix puppy. The first
time I came home on break, I was greeted at the door at 2 am by something
that resembled a Tribble (<---reference to a Star Trek Episode), which
immediately began to chew on my foot and bark (at the same time). I also
found out that the dog was given permission to live in my bedroom and sleep
on my bed, and had apparently not been too happy that I was sleeping in
*her* bed. Yes, my parents gave my room away to a dog.

Being, at the time, a reporter and columnist for the highly respected
newspaper, The North Wind, up at Northern Michigan University, I immediatly
vented my anguish in a "For What It's Worth" column, which then gave me my
first pile of fan mail (before that I seemed to specialize in flames, so
this was a turning point in my writing career). Trust me, there were several
blogs' worth of material in my adventures with Coco back in those days. Even
one of my professors was horrified to hear from my own lips that, no, I did
not make it up, and yes, the dog really was given my bed and my room, and
indeed, it does look like a Tribble. My column was too long for me to
include a photo.

It's funny to me that most of my friends and acquaintences from college
still, to this day, mention Coco the Tribble-dog, and are usually surprised
to hear she is still alive, and to hear further adventures about her. She
now lives with my mom and her new husband, and shares a crate with her
step-dog-brother, Hans (who is, amazingly, older than Coco). Coco still
seemed young, though she had grown slightly blind (my mom will bang her dog
dish so she knows where the food is), and often gets down steps by rolling,
and then shakes it off, wags her tail and runs along like a little puppy,
even at her age.

In fact, my kids had a hard time with saying "Grandma" when they were
little, so they always called my mom Coco. Eventually they called her Coco
Grandma.

Well, friends, Coco left this world the other day. I was not really
surprised, as she seemed to be getting sicker, and I knew my mom was goign
to have to make "the decision" sooner or later, but just didn't want to. It
was somewhat sad to hear the news, especially since she resulted in my first
"popular" piece of writing.

By the way, I have all of my old writings from my North Wind days--EXCEPT
that piece! Yes, folks, I even have the in-depth reports that I did with
Stephanie Williams when I found out about them thinking about dumping
nuclear waste in the U.P. way back when...but I don't have that one. I know,
because I looked for it shortly after my mom called to tell me they buried
Coco.

This may sound sort of inappropriately funny, but after digging the hole,
and before putting her in, Hans (the older-than-even-coco dog) FELL INTO the
grave, and they had to rescue him out. As I said before, I could not make
this stuff up if I tried. I haven't even started to tell you about all of
the dogs and cats I've had since I moved out--another time maybe?

So, if there are any of you sweet NMU Alums out there who remember that
column (it would have occured sometime between 1987-1990, though I believe
it was in the earlier years), please send it to me. I'd super appreciate it!

Fruit at McDonalds??!?

It's funny how I always think of cool blogs when I am far away from my
computer.

Am I the only person out there who preaches to myself while in the car?
There are times when I put my cell phone head set on so people don't think I
am crazy. While in my car I have also come up with some great blog ideas,
but lo and behold, they are gone and out of my head by the time I am back at
my computer! What a bother.

One occurred to me the other day, while we were redeeming some McDonald's
gift certificates at the Golden Arches. We don't make it a habit of going
there too much at all, but it is sort of fun to have greasy, salty food on
special occasions, to make us appreciate home cooking :-). While there, I
noticed something really weird. They sell fruit at McDonalds. I was told by
the person I asked that this has been going on for a while now.

It made me wonder--do people drive by MCDONALDS and say.....geeee am I just
hankering for some FRUIT?!?!?

I doubt it.

They certainly don't go to McDonald's and order fruit because of what a
"good deal" it is either--although the McDonald's workers slice your apples
and cut out the cores for you just like mommy used to, they charge quite a
bit to do so. I can buy a bag of apples for that price!

Then there is something to be said of what I am assuming the flavor of an
apple that has been sitting around a greasy place like McDonalds would be. I
used to work at Mister Donut while in college, and I worked summers at
Dunkin Donuts. I know what I smelled like. I remember going to a funeral,
after having showered and changed clothes, only to have everyone say, "I
smell donuts!" whenever I came near. I can only assume that the apples are
going to taste like they have been sitting in proximity to one of those
fryers. Yuck.

Anyway, that was sort of a fun thought I had the other day, but since I
don't have a laptop (it is on my wish list), I had to settle for writing
this all out on the back of a receipt I got from buying gasoline.

Lazy Days with Paints

After school was over today, I had an inspiration to paint a little something. Painting is so relaxing. When I was in college, my medium of choice was oils, but that is hard to do at home, with the smell and gross clean up involved. I've actually been building my skills with watercolors and pen and ink. Earlier this year, we got some great DVDs for watercolor painting basics from an artist named Bobbi Dubins who produced these herself. You can find out more about them here. Anyway, we popped in the "First Full Watercolor Painting" DVD, watched it again, and painted a very nice picture each. Mine was of my lovely grape arbor outside. It was raining, so painting outside was a bit impractical today, so I used memory and photographs.

Speaking of grapes, my garden is just crazy this summer. The grapes grew so well, and are loaded down with fruits, but the rest of the garden is sot of a flop this year. I think it was just too hot. A lot of people who bought my book, Growing Your Groceries wrote to tell me that their annual veggies didn't do so well. Well, mine either! LOL Bother, huh?

I am debating as to what to do with all of these grapes. I have 4 bushels of concord grapes. That would be way too much jelly. We like grape juice but last yer some of my juice bottles blew their lids (literally) and turned into a fermented product that I added to the compost! Oy! I am going to try again this year, but I have really been focused more on giving it away as much as possible, and eating fresh grapes too of course, before I spend hours juicing grapes.

One year we made a concord grape pie. I had never heard of one until a blog reader (on my old blog) shared the recipe with me. However, having to peel 4 cups of grapes was an adventure. I started off doing it, but then the kids asked to help. I showed them to pinch the end opposite the stem, and squeeze to get the grape flesh out of the skin. That task soon turned into a grape fight, and "accidentally" shooting each other with grapes, and an ant feast from the stickiness. The pie was pretty good though, especially with whipped cream.

Another year, we decided that the fastest way to juice the grapes was to actually stomp them with our feet as you often see in movies. This was actually and idea that one of the kids had. We used an old, sanitized kid's swimming pool, and we washed all feet well (LOL), and did it. Then I realized it would be rather hard to strain, so I had to scoop it all out, one cup at a time, and strain it. We actually did get pretty good grape juice that year, but it was rather hard to manage, and no one is willing to have purple feet for a week again.

I was googling and saw this really cool grape and cider press, and maybe I can pursude my husband to build one for me....hummmmmmmmmmm

Learning New Things Doesn't Stop at Graduation

Learning to do anything new is always a bit of a challenge, but I find that learning new things is also one of those things that makes life fun. With older children, it is even more fun to me to watch them "get it", sometimes even before I do. Ah, I must be getting old.

 

I have been trying to configure my new shopping cart and to set up more payment modules than just paypal or check/money order by mail, because so many people request more. Well, that part has proven to be a bit of a challenge ;). I also wanted to learn how to set up my shopping cart to offer sales to newsletter subscribers. Thankfully, though none of my children have figured out how to configure Verisign Payflow Pro to my shopping cart (bummer), my youngin's did figure out how to set up my sales on my website, and do coupons too.

 

In fact, they spent a good deal of time trying to figure out how to come up with cool and catchy sales slogans for the coming months and weeks. They created a special September "yeah, we got the shopping cart to work" coupon that offers my newsletter subscribers $5 off all purchases of $20 or more for this week. Not signed up for my newsletter? go to www.joyfulmomma.org/bookstore and log yourself in as a new customer to sign up. I will send out the coupon information when you register!

 

Kimberly

 

 

What I did on my summer vacation

Hi there blog readers! No, I didn't die. I'm still here. I just have had a
very busy summer.

It always strikes me as odd how, in the summer, when there is no school (and
therefore no homeschooling duties for me), I have far less time than when we
are back into our regular school schedule in the fall. Strange, isn't it?

I have been doing something productive this summer, though. Let's see if I
can update it for you with the top ten things I did during my summer
vacation, ok?

10. I had a garden. Unfortunately, this was probably one of the worst
garden-years we have had in a long time. I am not sure why either. What an
irony, that while I am selling an ebook called Growing Your Groceries at my
website, I had a real flop in my
own backyard. At least, the grapes, raspberries, and other perennial fruits
did well where the annual vegetables failed. Not only that, but I got the
motherlode of hot peppers this year! In short, it was just too miserably hot
this year to do much work in the garden, and even with frequent watering
everything except the warm loving plants looked wilted.

9. I worked in VBS. Vacation Bible School is one of the busiest yet funnest
weeks each summer. It is always amazing to me how our little church in the
country can attract hundreds of children during VBS week. This summer, I
worked in the craft department, which was a blessing. I have worked in
different areas over the years, and I would have to say that the time really
flew in the craft station. It left me saying at the end of each day, "We're
done already??". In contrast, my teen daughter worked in the toddler nursery
where some sort of time warp was causing time to move at a snail's pace she
said.

8. I helped a friend get her website published. It always amazes me how God
brings people across our path for a reason in the various circumstances of
life. Ever just be drawn to someone for no particular reason (or so you
think)? Well, I met Christine last year at my kids' art class, and we hit it
off, as we chatted from month to month as we dropped our children off. This
past summer, she was getting her own artwork up on her site, but her web
designer bailed on her when the project was halfway over, and what he did do
was not really work fit for an artists site (maybe a techie though).
Thankfully for her, I also do websites, and as an artist, I am able to make
them look cool, not just full of well-ordered code (LOL). Anyway, we worked
something out, and the finished product looks awesome, though I am still
tweaking it here and there. Check
out her original artwork here.

7. I researched other payment options for my website. Right now I am just
using Paypal on my website, with the option of paying by mail with a check.
I have noticed that while many people like Paypal or at least use Paypal,
may others don't care for it at all. I applied for a merchant account that
would allow me to accept credit and debit cards. I really had mixed feelings
about this for a long time because I have strong feelings about debt, but I
have also come to realize that not everyone uses a credit card to get
themselves into a miry pit of no return--some just use it for convenience.
Anyway, I will soon be accepting Credit Cards on ye olde website as soon as
I figure out how to finish installing that module ;).

6. I have configured a new bookstore for my website, which should help the
website to flow better. I felt bad raising some shipping prices, and
changing how I calculate shipping, but I had to do it. I was starting to
lose money on shipping, and I also needed to figure out how to make my
international shipping easier/less complex for everyone. It seemed a lot of
people overlooked that button, and I am not a confrontational person so I
had a hard time telling people they needed to pay more. I think the new
website looks nicer, and I also have some new products on the bookstore,
including Melvin Peterman's Graphic Design, Drafting and Technical drawing
books for helping your children further develop their creative skills. I am
also pleased to announce that I will be selling some more watercolor
painting DVDs by Watercolor artist Bobbi Dubins. These painting DVDs are not
the sort of DVD that assumes you already know how to use watercolor. Ms.
Dubins has developed these to teach someone who has never held a brush
before how to use this medium. My children and I watched them again and
again, and learned so much from her through these DVDs. We just had to make
them available to everyone else!

5. I took a portrait and oil painting class with Brother Don West. Ok, maybe
I should rephrase that. My children took a portrait class and an oil
painting class with Mr. West. However, Mr. West's policy is that moms draw
for free, and so I joined them. I really learned a lot from both of the
classes. I actually went to college to learn Art and Design, but I can tell
you this: I have learned far more from Mr. West, and from DVDs such as the
ones by Mr. West and by Bobbi Dubins, than I ever learned in college. For
the portrait class we drew a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, and learned all
about this fascinating historical figure while creating a very realistic
pencil drawing of his face. Mr. West also explained to us how to use the
techniques we were learning to draw any face. For the oil painting
class, we drew a painting entitled "Serve" which was of a mother bird
feeding her babies. We learned basic oil painting techniques, and how to
create different effects in paint. I also found out that technology has
allowed us to progress to the point that there are now water-soluble oil
based paints available! They are by Artisan or by Max2. These oil paints
don't smell (As badly anyway) and can be cleaned up by soap and water while
the paint is still wet. They are now on my birthday wish list! :-) Remember,
folks, we sell Mr. Don West's amazing Christian Art for Kids DVDs in our
bookstore. Check it out!

4. I continued to pursue my business education at "Spare Bedroom College"
(that's where you learn on your own while locked in the spare bedroom
certain hours each day instead of paying some overstuffed academic with
Permanent Head Damage--PhD.-- an obscene amount of money for information you
can find cheaper online via ebooks, podcasts, teleseminars, and so forth by
people who are actually successful by following their own advice, and not
just making money by handing out advice they've never put into practice
themselves). I have learned a lot about business practices that work, and
that honor the Lord. I want to continue to build our family business for His
glory, not just for our own. With my husband's advancing age, and the
greatly unstable work situation we have faced in recent years, God has been
leading us more and more towards self employment, starting of course with
Joyful Momma Publishing which started as just a personal website. My husband
can't work in the manufacturing sector forever, and so as his work load
becomes harder to sustain, we are prayerfully exploring other options. I
love to learn, as do my children, and so they have been at Spare Bedroom
College with me quite a bit this summer too, and as part of their
homeschooling this year, my two oldest are developing business ideas they
feel God has given them. Pray for us, if you think of it.

3. I finished the Basics of Frugal Cooking ebook. I am so glad for it too.
I really had planned to get that one done in March or April of this past
year, but as you know, life happens. I also was working on Mothering with
Fibromyalgia, which is also almost done, but not quite. Sometimes i think
the Lord allows things to happen to our well laid plans to remind us that He
is indeed the one in control of our lives, and that we really don't know
what tomorrow holds. We can make our plans, but truly our futures are in His
hand, amen?

2. I adjusted to my husband's new work schedule. Having a husband who works
a weird shift really affects the whole family. I have had to get used to
making dinner at lunchtime, making lunch around dinner for the children and
I, and not seeing him come home every night from work (unless of course I am
up past my bedtime ;)).

1. Wow, what can I say for my big #1? I enjoyed my family, and also the
neighborhood kids too (who were in and out of my house most of the summer).
We caught snakes, frogs, toads, and praying mantises. We picked flowers. We
did all of the projects from our Botany curriculum that we couldn't do when
we were buried under 2 feet of snow last winter ;). We watched our dog have
puppies and our cat have kitties. We tearfully sold the puppies (Well, I was
happy, but everyone else was crying!).

blessings,
Kimberly