When we rode scooters at the church parking lot awhile ago, we brought sidewalk chalk. Ocean started out drawing a simple Castle Crashers picture (from his favorite game, and a favorite art subject).
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| Ocean's creativity- stacking LEGO vertically to make a character holding a shield and a sword |
Monday I finished catching up on old blog posts, then worked on my site.
Tuesday I went for a walk with Max. She was super happy, and it was past due, but my hip is still sore so we're still not doing any running, much to her disgust.
After music lessons and speech therapy I went grocery shopping and had my cardiology follow up. He didn't have the results yet, which I knew would be the case, but the receptionist assured me the timing was fine. Te doc was not happy that I was told that. Apparently this isn't the first time this has happened. He was really nice about it though and said he'd call with the results from my monitor when he gets them.
I finished the last of the details on the site. Got my first blog post up, tweaked the mini sales page, and checked all the little details.
Wednesday I went on a hike with Max on frozen trails. They've been too wet to hike on, but since it got into the 20s last night, we could use them in the morning before they defrosted again.
I changed my Instagram name and posted about the name change, and the rebrand is done and official!
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| My new stickers- top group for my course, bottom two to include in shop orders. |
I looked over my site with my accountability partner during our weekly call and she recommended I add some pics to the mini sales page, but otherwise it looks good.
I finished off the final tweaks to my site, then tidied up my work space so I can start videoing. I also worked a little on my Pinterest account and read up some on how to use it. I need to figure it out for myself before I hire it out again.
Thursday was another snow day! We've gotten more snow this year than the last 3 years combined, I think. We were supposed to get 5-8", then they said 3-6", but we only ended up with maybe an inch of snow and ice. Very disappointing. I was looking forward to getting dumped on. I thought about hitting the trails with Max, but stayed home because of the ice. I don't mind driving on snow, but I don't like driving on ice.
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| Jeremy made a big bowl of blueberry snow ice cream with some of the snow that did fall |
That night my YW class made treats on zoom. This seems to be a good way to use zoom, and is a better way to make treats than in person, since everyone has their own equipment and aren't all huddled around one stove.
Friday I went for a short walk with Max. I intended to hit the park trails, but the gates were closed, so we went to our wet weather bike path. I was on a schedule though, so we didn't have our full half hour to walk after driving from the park to the bike path. Better than nothing, though.
After that, Sunshine and I had eye appts. It's back to bifocals for me (I had them after my mission when I went back to college, but ditched them around the time Sunshine was born). It's not a surprise. I've been having a much harder time reading up close with my glasses on. Sunshine got contacts for the first time, but has to get used to putting them in- she didn't manage it while we were there, so she'll keep trying them at home. Her astigmatism is bad enough that she has to use the toric lenses, which adds to the difficulty of sticking them in her eye (there's a definite up and down on them and they have to be in properly or she won't be able to see). Jeremy went in later that day for his eye exam, but he only has minor changes to his prescription.
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| While Sunshine was trying to put her contacts in, I tried frames on, but I really struggled. Between the mask and the eye dilation, I couldn't tell what they looked like. I went outside so I could take my mask off, but even though it was overcast, it was too bright for me to open my eyes. Hence the above pic. The frames are ok, but I didn't get them. It's cheaper just to buy them from Zenni Optical. I got glasses for both Sunshine and I for less than $100 and mine have the blue light blocker and progressive bifocal lenses. |
The dilation lasted longer than I remembered, though it was probably not helped by me insisting on reading. I spent a little time on the computer, but it made me too nauseous to keep going. But I have a really hard time just sitting and doing nothing, so I laid down and squinted at the Kindle app on my phone.
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| A rare decent frontal view of Max standing still |
I wore my YakTrax, for probably the first time since we lived in Colorado, for extra traction, but I probably would have been fine without them. It was a very loud hike with all the crunching through the top layer of ice, though as you can see in the pic above, Max doesn't weigh enough to break through that crust.
That afternoon the boys and I watched the Primary Friend to Friend broadcast. They liked it and I thought it was well done, especially given all the restrictions in place.
I spent some time ordering a couple clicker dies and a new brass mark. I've been putting it off, but I need to get moving, especially with the brass mark, which will take time to ship from China. Eventually I will need to order some custom clicker dies (these are pre-made) and an actual clicker press (my hydraulic press can handle small clicker dies, but it's not a long term solution). But clicker presses and custom clicker dies don't come cheap, so while I know I need them, I'm holding off a bit longer.
And then I started gathering all the info for our taxes. Last year around this time I said I wouldn't wait till tax time to update my records, but I did. Cutting down from 4 businesses to 2 did cut down on the work, but I still had to comb through emails and various service accounts to find all the receipts. Lots of fun. I'll try to stay more on top of it this year.
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| River's snaggle tooth- it's loose and he could make it poke out (Sunshine had a tooth that did this naturally and he wanted a picture of his snaggle tooth to go with hers) |
Sunday was a busy day. I had ward youth council, church, a meeting with the bishop and a couple stake YW and YM leaders, and then a meeting with the other YW presidencies in the stake. So many meetings. And Jeremy had drill all weekend and was glued to his computer, in meetings all day. Lots of fun.
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| That snaggle tooth came out! He's lost 4 teeth now and think he's so cool 😉 |
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| With all the gaps in his teeth, his tongue pokes right through. |
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| Since I was taking pictures of River, Ocean wanted some pictures too. If you look closely, you can see his hazel eyes that come through my mom's side. My cousin's kids have the same hazel eyes. Sunshine and Jeremy have matching two-tone hazel eyes, but they're a totally different hazel than Ocean's. And River has my dark brown eyes. |
I held off on editing the product photos I took on Saturday till I had my new laptop set up. Unfortunately, when I looked at them on Monday, I didn't love them. I took them with my cell phone, and the quality was just not up-to-snuff, so I decided to re-do them with my nice camera.
I also scheduled our internet install, which is set for Wednesday! Between my new laptop and faster internet, I'm really hoping I can get photos uploaded a lot faster- product listings, blog posts, etc, as well as edit photos a lot faster. These tasks have been taking forever, which is not an efficient use of my time.
After taking new product photos, I started editing them, which was a bit faster with the new computer, but still slow with our super slow internet (I use picmonkey.com to edit photos, so I have to upload and download photos to the site. I did some, then decided to hold off on the rest of them until our internet is upgraded.
Tuesday I walked with Max, which was easier on my hip than running, and better than nothing, but I should have walked on Monday as well so Max wouldn't be quite so rambunctious.
After music lessons and speech therapy, I worked on product listings. Writing takes less bandwidth than photo editing and I need to get them done as quick as possible so I can get back to course stuff.
Tuesday Jeremy lost his keys. He'd used them to unlock the trailer after a dump run, and they never made it back into his pocket.
I went into town to run an errand shortly after he finished, so they may have gotten lost along the way. He retraced my route, but couldn't find them.
Wednesday I took Max for a walk, and while driving there, I managed to find the car keys Jeremy had lost. There was an odd shape poking up in the middle of the road about a mile from our house. I pulled over quick and checked, just on the off chance it was the keys, and it was what was left of them (which we knew was a distinct possibility). They must have been on top of the back of the car or sitting on the hitch, and fell off while I was driving.
Both fobs are totally smashed and unusable, but his house key is only a little worse for wear. At least we know where they are and don't have to keep looking for them. It's especially good since it's supposed to rain and snow a lot over the next week or so and we probably wouldn't find them after that. The unfortunate thing about these fancy key fobs that allow us to lock our cars without touching them? They cost a couple hundred bucks to replace.
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| all the pieces I found scattered on the road. the bar thing next to the red and gray buttons is all that's left of the trailer hitch lock |
Wednesday I walked with Max and after lunch our new internet got hooked up! Uploading photos to my site takes seconds rather than minutes (10+, assuming they didn't time out completely and have to be restarted). After that was done, I canceled our super slow DSL internet.
Then I edited photos and uploaded them to their listings. So much quicker.
I didn't sleep well because I ate some sugar too close to bed, then when I did fall asleep, I woke up coughing because my throat was super dry. I may need to start using a humidifier at night.
That evening I rearranged the living room since the modem connects to the cable coaxial which is on the other side of the room from the phone jack. The cabinet with our printer needs to be where the modem is so the printer can be plugged into it, which allows us to print wirelessly from any computer.
Friday we woke up to another 4+ inches (I think, I never got around to measuring) of snow. Yay!
Max managed to wriggle out of her harness while I was shoveling the front steps. She ran around the neighborhood for 10-15 minutes before coming back for the squeaky toy Jeremy was squeaking on the front porch. She ran up on the porch and we shut the gate behind her. Good thing we have those gates. I'll have to be more careful that the harness is snug when I take her out and not get distracted while she's wearing it.
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| looks like the edge of some woods, but it's just the neighbor's tree line- very picturesque, right? |
Saturday it was supposed to snow a lot more, but we just got some sleet, which left ice everywhere. We didn't lose power, though, unlike a lot of people.
I'm pretty much finished setting up the back end of my shop. There's some things that need to be done still, but I can do them later. I need to write a blog post or two and double check my expenses for each item (and therefore the sales price), and do a basic email sequence for those who sign up for my newsletter (I think I have this done already for my old site, so hopefully I just need to copy and paste), and then I'm calling it good on the site.
Once those are done, I need to write an Instagram post talking about the name change, rename my Instagram account, and start linking to my shop. Then it will be time to pivot back to my course and start making course videos.
Sunday after church, I worked on catching up on blog posts (mostly uploading photos), which is so much quicker with our new internet. If you want to read all the posts I caught up on, go to this post and work your way forward.
We finally got the paperwork on Jeremy's VA disability rating on Thursday. We knew it had been increased, but we weren't sure if it included his last two evaluations. Paperwork shows that everything has been factored in, and we now have his final rating, which is 80%. Not as high as we'd hoped (from a financial perspective- a 100% disability rating receives almost twice what an 80% disability rating does each month), but after doing some research, we've realized that it's pretty hard to get 100%.
All his individual ratings add up to 130%, but VA math doesn't work that way. Seriously, it's a thing. Check out this article, which also explains how to figure out your actual %, and links to the chart used. So he's at 80%. The percentage rating on his back (his highest rated injury) would have to increase a lot just to get to 90%.
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| looking up our driveway |
I haven't run at all this week and have only gone for a few walks. My hip is feeling better, but it's still painful. At least this rest period is coinciding with wet weather that keeps us from the trails. Max is not appreciating the lack of exercise though.
Monday we got a little more snow and a little rain, and the temps were above freezing, so the snow started to melt. Jeremy had to go to work, but the kids and I strapped on our snowshoes and trekked to the mailbox and back. The snow wasn't great for snowshoeing, but we had fun. Max loved the snow.
After snowshoeing, I worked on the journals I'll be listing on my site.
Wednesday another chunk of money from the VA showed up in our bank account, which we're guessing is for Jeremy's back. He's been evaluated for his ears and toe, but we're pretty sure they're too recent to be factored in. We're not sure what his current rating is yet, since we haven't gotten the letter from the VA yet.
I went for a slushy trail run with Max and River. Parts of the trail were frozen, while other parts were muddy, depending on how much sun the trail had seen.
I need to finish off the listings and my website by Saturday night so that next week I can get back to my sales page and email sequences. I decided to push back the launch of my course by at least 2 weeks, possibly up to 4 weeks. There's too much still to get done, and I'm still waiting on the replacement cases for my toolkits (I'm really hoping they make it out of China before they shut down for the Lunar New Year).
Wednesday night, Sunshine and I went to youth scuba club. It's starting to pick up steam, but I suspect things won't truly get going till the weather warms up.
Thursday I went for another slushy trail run with Max and River. It was a little better than on Wednesday, but still messy. Everything's freezing over night, then gradually melting during the day.
That afternoon we had a socially distant birthday party with friends.
Later I paid the bills and used the VA money to pay off a chunk of debt, which felt so good. We still have a ways to go, but we're finally making significant progress.
Then I worked on smaller items to list on my site.
Friday I went for a super muddy run. I really shouldn't have been on the trails, but didn't realize they were that bad when I started.
I worked on more small items for my site. Things are going so much quicker with the hand press I bought for installing snaps, rivets, etc. It was totally worth the money for it and the dies. It installs hardware right the first time, in a fraction of the time it took to do it by hand. I'm saving money on hardware and time.
That night Sunshine had a virtual campout with her troop. The ground was still wet and muddy, so she set her tent up on the back deck. She was cold, but otherwise had a decent time.
Saturday morning I ran with my friend C on the paved path. Then I finished last of the valet trays, adjusting the patterns along the way as I tweaked the designs a bit.
Then I started photographing everything for the listings.
While I was working, Jeremy went to go pick up my new laptop. I've needed one for awhile since it just can't keep up with me. It's been bogging down and taking way too long to do things because I have too many windows open at a time (a necessary thing with all I'm working on).
We bought my old laptop sometime in 2014/2015, and it's actually still a good computer, it just doesn't have enough ram. After I remove all my stuff and update it from 32 bit to 64 bit (something I've been putting off because I was worried about messing something up) it'll get passed down to Sunshine to use for school. Minecrap doesn't work on Macs <insert evil laugh while rubbing my hands together> so there will be fewer distractions for her.
My old MacBook Pro is a 13", 8gb ram, my new one is 16", 16gb ram, both have solid state drives. The bigger screen will be useful since I nearly always have at least two windows open at the same time, so it will be easier to share the screen. I love the speakers on either side of the keyboard. Sound quality is much better and louder.
I was able to migrate all my info from my old laptop to the new one, but it took awhile to get done over the weekend. Setting up everything took longer than I'd hoped, but at this point, I think it's all good.
We got a little more snow on Sunday, but it was very wet, so while it covered the ground, it mostly melted by the end of the day.
I've been dealing with a hip flexor issue that started when I was wearing the chewed on orthotic, and unfortunately hasn't resolved with the new orthotics like I'd hoped. Rest and ice seems to be the best option, which isn't great for Max. I need to see if just walking instead of running, and trying to stay on flat areas (difficult with all the hills around here) will help it heal faster.
I also bought a package of Glutino gluten free chocolate sandwich cookies for comparison. They taste nothing like an Oreo. The cookie is all wrong, and so is the creme.
I haven't had a real Oreo in about 12 years. Despite the creme not being quite right (this is also why I don't like other brands of chocolate sandwich cookies), I do like the cookie portion. However, I don't know that we'll buy them on a regular basis. Aside from the sugar/carb issue, they did give me a stomach ache. Not a "oh no, I got glutened" stomach ache (this time, anyway), more an "holy cow, I just ate a lot of refined sugar and crap" stomach ache. When combined with the potential for getting glutened due to shoddy handling and testing of oats, I don't know that I'll buy them again. It was a nice glimpse of the past, but I think it'll stay there.
