The Results

Filed Under Avon | 3 Comments

I sold almost $1100 on Friday for my Black Friday sale. Thank you to all who ordered from me. I talked to my district manager on Saturday and she said that I had reported the highest sales for that day, so far. We’ll see what else comes in though. I also have another person who I think might start selling under me. It’s the daughter of one of my regular customers.

And remember my contest? I still need help! These are the states I have:

Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Florida
Indiana
Louisiana
Michigan
Missouri
New York
North Carolina
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
Texas
Virginia
Washington
Wisconsin

If you live anywhere else, please please help me out! The contest is still going on and I need lots of states. All you have to do is go to my Avon site and place an order for Direct Delivery. You can use the code FSANY for free shipping on any size order during this contest. There are chapsticks for 59 cents so even if you don’t need anything, you can help me out for about 65 cents including tax!

I am working on getting little thank you gifts sent out in the mail to those people who have already ordered. If you haven’t gotten yours yet, it will be on its way in the next few days. I am also ordering some new promotional pens and calendars and stuff to give out to my customers. I am really enjoying building my business. I know January will be slow, but right now things are great!

Just wanted to say…

Filed Under Avon, In-Laws, Nineteen Months | 5 Comments

I sold over $1000 today! Specifically, I sold over $1000 in less than eight hours. I’m pretty pleased. And I officially qualify for my district’s Black Friday contest. I’m not sure what the prize is, but I am happy.

Also, I have a really cute kid. Need proof?

Isn’t that just the sweetest little profile you’ve ever seen?

Now I’m off to spend another day and a half with the inlaws. It’s mostly going better than expected. Wish me luck and patience!

Black Friday AVON Sale

Filed Under Avon, Shopping | 1 Comment

BLACK FRIDAY
THE DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING
NOVEMBER 28, 2008

This is the BIGGEST Shopping day of the year! Avon customers should be given a special shopping experience too…

I am really excited! I am in a contest and in order to qualify, I must have $1,000 in retail sales on the day after Thanksgiving. Sounds like a lot, right? Well, that’s where you come in – FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 28th is my SPECIAL DAY FOR YOU.

To save up to 40% all you have to do is call me and leave a message with your name and the product numbers you would like to order from the Campaign 25 brochure during the specified times below. You must include the product numbers to qualify for the discount. (Please note that products with a symbol (*) prior to the name are excluded from this discount):

1:00 – 2:00 P.M. 40% discount
2:00 – 3:00 P.M. 30% discount
3:00 – 4:00 P.M. 25% discount
4:00 – 6:00 P.M. 20% discount
6:00 – 8:00 P.M. 15% discount

**Since you are shopping online, please view my brochure HERE — you can also see which products are eligible. Post a link to this contest and receive an extra 5% off your purchase.

You can email me your order: tara (at) twolinesonastick (dot) com (please include the time on your email so I can give you the correct discount) or call me if you know my number! I will ship for free once I receive your cleared payment. I accept checks, cash, credit card, or Paypal.

HAPPY SHOPPING!

Tara

Thanksgiving 2008

Filed Under Thanksgiving | 2 Comments

We are getting ready to go to my parents house after Bailey’s nap. We are having our Thanksgiving dinner there with everyone. I was assigned to bring rolls and pumpkin pie. I love my mom because she assigned me two of the easiest things. She knows I don’t really know how to cook. I should be embarrassed, but really I don’t care. They were both purchased at Schnucks earlier this week and are baking in the over right now.

I have so much to be thankful for this year. Good health, Jonathon, Bailey and a great family, the privilege of staying home to raise my child, a house and two working cars… I really am grateful for all of it. What are you thankful for?

Nineteen Months

Filed Under Milestones, Nineteen Months, Talking | 1 Comment

Bailey, Bailey, Bailey. HOW is my baby nineteen months old already? It’s funny now to call you Muffin. You seem so tall and unsquishy (except your cheeks) and you are so brave and spirited and just not much of a baby anymore. I still call you Muffie (and so does Daddy and Grammy) but you know your name is Bailey. If someone asks your name, you tell them “Bay-eee.” It’s so cute.

Your very favorite things to do now are coloring and watching tv. You always ask for either Ernie or Barney videos. I don’t know how you picked those two guys out of all the things you have seen. You don’t like to talk to strangers. Once you warm up to someone you are very chatty, though. We took you to a wedding reception last weekend and you decided the prayer was too long. You started saying Amen quite loudly, and repeatedly, during the prayer. You got a few laughs from people around us but Mommy was a little embarrassed. You also know that you are cute. If someone says the word cute or calls you cute, you give the biggest hammiest smile ever. You enjoy demonstrating your jumping skills. You can hop across a room pretty fast. When you run, you remind me of Phoebe from Friends. I will have to show you that episode sometime. She flails her arms and legs out all crazy to the sides.

Lately, we have been going to the Magic House and the early childhood center and the mall play area, and we have had some playdates and friends houses. You are happiest when you’re out and about. You don’t want to sit still unless it is to color. You don’t even want to sit on my lap to read at bedtime lately. You pretend to sit and read next to your nightlight and then suddenly, you throw your book back in the basket and make a run for the living room. You’re tried that trick several times now. Your language skills are taking off like crazy now. People can understand you even without me translating a lot of the time now. You have a happy, cheerful disposition and endless energy. You never cease to amaze me, frazzle me, surprise me, and you make me the happiest mommy in the world. I love you, Muffie Muff.

Mommy

**I also wanted to update the vocab list- the words in italics were things she was saying before (only now with updated pronunciation),and the new words are in bold. This is really just for my own reference. Also she is combining two words at a time but not very often.

mama
dada
up
more
yes
no
please (pease)
go
moo
nay nay -horse
book (book)
home (home)
bird (birrrd)
ssss -what does a snake say?
roarrrrr -what does a lion say?
owl (owwullll)
hi
fish (shish)
cheese (cheese)
animal (me mi mo)
poop
rock rock -in rocking chair
slide (zide)
Dora (Dor-rahrah)
ah ah ah -what does a monkey say?
ball (ball)
toe
head
arm (ahm)
quack quack (duck duck)
tweet tweet (deet deet)
juice (joosh)
red
blue (bloo00) she can pretty consistently identify blue things
green (geen) at lights she now yells “Geen go! Go! Geen!”
dog
hello (howwo)
Elmo (Emmo)
meow
mom, mommy -instead of mama sometimes, so sad
papa -her great grandpa
help (hep)
OH NO
bad bad bad
Addie
Tiny (Tineh) great grandparents dog
sock
shoes (shoosh)
be bo -our word for belly button, from a Sandra Boynton book
knee
eye
nose (no)
mouth (muh)
ear
frog (fe ra guh) said in three whole syllables
Amen (ahmee)
love you (uvoooo)
bear
milk
more please
milk please
all done (ah done)
all gone (ah gone)
pee
pat -to pat someone on the back
hug
get down (geeeda)
get Dora (geeDorahrah)
tree (tee)
pillow
drink (dit)
penguin (peng)
turtle (turt uh)
cat
bunny
hop
jump (dump)
pumpkin (kump kump)
cup
chicky -for chicken, she loves chicken nuggets
fries (fwies)
baby
Donald (donnow) -McDonalds or Ronald McDonald tub toy
car
mail (meeeul)
man (meeeun) -snowman
flowers (flovversh)
color
paper
pen -pen or pencil
Kohl’s
play (pay)
Avon (A-not)
money
night-night (ny ny)
people
purple
black (blacksh)
yellow (lellow)
Zoe (zsjooo-eh) -from Sesame Street
cookie (cook cook or kee kee) -Cookie Monster
Telly (Tehleh) -from Sesame Street
Ella
Barney
Ernie
Bert
steps (deps)
class (clash)
ring
hair
bow
neck
cheek (keech)
hot
bye bye
scarecrow (geh go)
spoon (poon)
Grammy (Geeny)
Grandpa (Puh Paw)

On the Mend

Filed Under Clothes, Complaining, Nineteen Months, Sick | 6 Comments

This weekend after we got back from the wedding, Bailey kept getting sicker. She has just been coughing and coughing. I keep hearing about how pertussis (whooping cough) is going around again. It makes me really thankful that I got her vaccinated for it. Especially since she is around other kids ALL THE TIME and lots of those kids have preschool or school age siblings. Not to mention that I work in my church nursery every week, and Jonathon works at a school. So there is no telling what we come into contact with. I also can’t help but think that maybe if everyone got their kids vaccinated, we wouldn’t be having this outbreak again. I am on the fence about delaying vaccinations for our next child but I can’t imagine just skipping them altogether.

On Sunday we stayed home from church since she couldn’t go to the nursery, and we all needed some rest! It was nice to have a morning at home all together, since we were so busy with the wedding on Saturday. You can especially tell in this first picture that Bailey wasn’t feeling well.

And I just had to share this one because I thought this was weird. Bailey really needed some new undershirts (a.k.a. onesies) to wear under her sweaters and shirts that don’t tuck in. I figured onesies are the best because they stay down and she isn’t really pottying anyway. It is SO stinking hard to find onesies in her size. Gerber makes them in 18 and 24 months but they look like they might fit a Cabbage Patch doll. I don’t know why their stuff has to run so small. I finally found some Carter’s ones that looked like they might fit all the way around her middle. I should also add that it was $24 for a 5-pack, so I WISH the Gerber ones fit!!! They are sooo much cheaper. Anyway, tonight after her bath, I put on one of the new shirts for under her jammies. Why is it so long? What 24 month old is an entire foot longer in the torso than Bailey?

By the way, the greasy look is Aquaphor lotion on her face. She gets completely covered in it at night so her cheeks don’t get chapped!

When we were passing the Walmart in Rolla by the way, we stopped to get Benadryl for B. There was a display of their alli diet pill thing. I have actually heard some decent reviews about that stuff but of course from companies or “sources” and not real people. Have you heard anything?

My Fabulous Blog Award

Filed Under Awards, Blogging | 4 Comments

My wonderful friend Jen gave me this blog award. I am glad she thinks my blog is fabulous. I think that she is! And there are also a few blogs that I think are fabulous. You should check them out if you are looking for new reading material!

1. Chasing Groundhogs- She got married, got a new job, and moved to Alaska within the last six months. How much more interesting could life be? She’s also one of my best friends in real life.

2. Mutha Mae- She’s super funny. Sometimes you wonder if she’s high on painkillers. Sometimes she is. (Okay, but that’s because she recently had major surgery!) She has three adorable girls and tells great stories about them.

3. Canape- She’s back! An amazing friend and a wonderful blogger who was recently on hiatus and just started blogging again. Stop by and give her a big welcome back to the blogosphere!

4. Three Times the Love- She’s a very talented writer AND a mom of three. Both of those are things I would like to be someday. One of the reasons I love her blog is that she has made me rethink several issues. She has some great insight and her posts are interesting and entertaining.

5. My Five Little Monkeys- A great person and a fabulous mother. She has triplets AND twins. She is funny and real and her kids are adorable. I probably need to take some patience lessons from her.

If you were nominated and you want to play, just pass on this award to five bloggers you think are fabulous!!

Sunday Night

Filed Under Friends, Nineteen Months, Sick | 4 Comments

We have had such a long weekend. I am just worn out. Tonight we went out to dinner with my friend Jen and her hubby. It was so nice to get together with them- we used to hang out a lot more and it’s been a while. Bailey was okay at dinner, but not wonderful. Partly because she wasn’t feeling well, I think. Also, I forgot to bring her crayons for her and the guy at the restaurant tried to give her some dry erase markers. Um, that was nice but really? She’s one, dude. We don’t do markers. She colored her lips blue within ten seconds of getting the markers. She also busted open her styrofoam straw cup (I HATE STYROFOAM CUPS, I will really have to tell the gas station story one day) and ice water went all over her.

When we got home, she got a bath and for once didn’t scream when I rinsed her hair. She decided she was a rock star and needed to dance and jump up and down on her changing table while getting her pajamas on. I swear she is going to break her neck someday. Such a little busybody daredevil.

We put her to bed without Benadryl. I think she is getting a little better. I am hoping that today was the worst day of her cold or whatever she has, and that she is on the mend. Tomorrow we need to go grocery shopping and try to clean the house a little. We were supposed to have a playdate but I canceled since she is germy. Then Jonathon and I relaxed together and watched Amazing Race and Cold Case. I have been doing well with my diet still, with just a few “slip ups.” I am worried that might change with the holidays coming. By the time Christmas is over I will probably be seriously considering taking something like Fentraphen!

Anyway, I know I said I would post pictures, so here they are. They are from a few days ago. She sometimes gets a lollipop in the bathtub. One of us can hold it up at an angle and she tilts her head up to lick it while the other rinses her hair quickly. If she cooperates then she gets to hold it after that.

MIA, I know

Filed Under Sick | Leave a Comment

We were out of town for a wedding yesterday, and now Bailey is sick. I am busy trying to chase her but I have to go somewhere in a little bit. Tonight I might try to post some cute pictures to make up for my lack of chattiness.

Little Miss Cutie Pants

Filed Under Clothes, Nineteen Months | 3 Comments

My friend Sarah just got Bailey a super cute pair of pants, so I have to share a couple pictures.

Thank you, Sarah! We love them

Status Quo

Filed Under Money, Postpartum Depression, Thoughts | 10 Comments

I started off pretty irritated a few hours ago. It was just one of those days. We went to library story time (which was really fun) and then I found out I had a $5 fine from a book I forgot I had. I delivered some Avon and it was freezing cold out, so I left Bailey in the car as I ran up to people’s doors. So she wasn’t thrilled with me. I got home and she dumped out her entire case (yes, case) of ponytail rubberbands and mixed all the colors together. They had been nicely divided into compartments. Then she ate a few of them.

But the icing on the cake? My request to lower my deductible for our health insurance was denied. You have got to be freaking kidding me. Well, it was accepted if I want to pay $130 a month more, since I have now been labeled with a mental illness. Because I got treatment for postpartum depression. I don’t understand what is wrong with these insurance companies. Would they rather that I DIDN’T get treated and then had to be checked into a psych hospital? Oh also I found out that is the reason my premium went up when B was six months old. They just screw you from every direction. It makes me hesitant to ever go to the doctor for anything again, because then it’s a preexisting condition that they can hold against you. She told me after 12 months I can apply again. I told her to forget it, that I would just keep what I had and that they were jerks. Seriously. Mental illness? Can they really find anything and use it as an excuse? That is scary. Also I have to say that I have never had a doctor’s visit because of the postpartum depression, and I have never even taken a name brand medication for it.

So I got off the phone and cried and called Jonathon to complain. I really do think our country has healthcare issues. It is sad when a family at our income level has to struggle to pay for health insurance. I am not saying that we are wealthy by any means, but Jonathon has a decent, salaried job and benefits (although it’s too expensive to add B and I to his insurance) and we own a house in a nice-ish area. What do people who have less than us do? Oh and I also know some people who work the system- you know, they get Medicaid or whatever but yet they are stay at home moms. If you are too poor to get insurance, maybe you should get a part time job. But that is neither here nor there- just evidence that our system is flawed. It’s sad that when you do things the right way, you come in last.

Then through my tears and frustration, I realized something. We are so incredibly blessed. I know that sounds trite, but we have SO MUCH. I can look around me and our house is filled with things we love. Maybe we can’t afford a Wii for Christmas, but look at all the things we DO have. How many families would love to trade with us. (Please know that I am not saying this to brag, I do my clothes shopping at Kohls’ for goodness sakes). And I complain about our insurance deductible but it was worth every penny to have Bailey. She’s even paid off now! I say that half joking. Over the course of our lifetime, $2500 is so insignificant. Even if it seems huge now, our lives are about so much more than that.

I complain that we can’t get affordable insurance through Jonathon’s work. Thank God that he has a job. I am so NOT Pollyanna-ish and do not always look at the bright side, so for me to have revelations like this, well it’s a big deal. I am thankful that he has a job that is stable. he is not in an industry where they are cutting jobs or departments or losing clients. His work couldn’t really function without him, and he is the ONLY one who does what he does. Thank God for that. I am so glad that he didn’t listen to my nagging over the past few years and get a job in the corporate world. He could have made a little more and then lost his job with a company that went under. All those prayers of mine that he would find a new job? They didn’t go unanswered. God answered them by taking better care of us than we knew how to do. By keeping Jonathon where he is.

Just today I found out about a friend whose husband lost his job, and a single mom who lost her job. I wish that I could find jobs for them; I hate to see people hurting like that. But I am glad that I had a wake up call to notice all the blessings in my life. And to just be content with what I have now, instead of always wanting something more or better. Our insurance wasn’t ideal when we had Bailey, but it worked. If we get pregnant again and STILL have this insurance, it will work again. We don’t need more than what we have. We are blessed beyond measure.

***NOTE: I am not pregnant. I know if I don’t say that up front I will be getting questions. We DO NOT have any plans to get pregnant again soon. It might happen, but it’s not at the top of my list right now. We plan to have more children someday, and that is why I talk about maternity coverage.

Coloring Junkie

Filed Under Nineteen Months, Play | 4 Comments

Apparently, coloring is the most fun thing EVER. I love it, but not so much with the 8-pack of jumbo washable crayons. I mean, there just isn’t the right shade for Zoe or Telly. (Pronounced by Bailey as “Szjooo-eh” and “Teh-leh.”)

My kid, on the other hand, could color for hours. She hasn’t even gotten any toys out since Sunday. Our living room is actually really clean now. I’m not kidding. It’s all coloring, all the time. She doesn’t want to stop to eat. She wakes up and asks, “Color? More color?” On Tuesday morning she was throwing a fit- she didn’t want to go to her class in the church nursery because she wanted to stay home and color. I had to convince her that her teacher would let her color in class. (Thank you, Julie, for having patience with my girl!)

At first she was just using scrap paper that we had laying around.

She colors in her jammies…

And she colors at her new table! Thank you to our wonderful neighbors Will and Jeannette. They gave Bailey this table and we had it put away for a while until she could figure out how to sit on it and not break her neck. It is her favorite place to color. And doesn’t she look grown up? *it’s happening too fast*

We have also noticed her favorite pages to color are the ones that either Mommy or Daddy colored on. She will find those pages and color over and over on them.

Works For Me Wednesday- Ziploc Omelets

Filed Under Food, Works For Me Wednesday | 6 Comments

I really can’t take credit for this at all. I got the idea from a good friend of mine and had to try it for myself. My problem with omelets is that they tend to stick to the pan, cook unevenly, and just be a pain to make and not worth the effort. This method is super easy, cuts down on the mess and makes them turn out great. Here are the details:

All you need to start out is one ziploc/zipper seal bag per omelet. I make a separate one for each of us so that I can customize the ingredients.

First you cook anything that you would normally cook before putting in the omelet- for this one, I chose to use green peppers because we had one left in the fridge. And let’s face it, usually omelet night means your fridge is close to empty and you are trying to avoid a trip to the grocery store. Or at least that’s what it means at the Stick house.

Open the ziploc bag and reach inside holding an egg. (This is really the only part that is AT ALL tricky, and that’s only for the first time). Once the egg is inside the bag, crack it open and throw away the shell.

I use two eggs for my omelet and three eggs for Jonathon’s. After the eggs are in there you can sit the bag somewhat upright. It helps to lean it against something. Pour in the amount of milk you would normally add for an omelet or scrambled eggs. Then seal the bag and knead it to “scramble” everything.

Open the bag, add all of your ingredients (for this one I used pepper, cheese, turkey, and tomato) and then seal and mix them together. Try to get all the air out of the bag. Also, if your husband is terrified of tomatoes or some other ingredient, be sure to mark your bag with a Sharpie in order to prevent a mix up.

Bring a pot of water to a boil and drop in the bags. They don’t have to be completely flat, and it’s okay if one covering the other. They will cook evenly regardless of how they are in the pot. (Yes, I was worried that they would melt, but they don’t, even if they are against the pan and not in the middle). I have found that 13 minutes is enough for the two egg omelet, but I leave the three egg omelet in for 15 minutes.

Remove CAREFULLY when they are done cooking (yes, I learned this the hard way) and let them cool for just a second before you open the bag and slide the omelet out onto the plate. It’s like magic. They come out perfectly cooked and shaped and fluffy, and the ingredients are mostly all in the middle!

Another wonderful tip- you can prepare the baggies during naptime or whenever you have a few minutes, and then just drop them in the pot at dinnertime!

So good luck with raising a child who’s not a total brat

Filed Under Are you kidding me?, Random | 2 Comments

I witnessed this scene in the grocery store last night:

Little girl (about six years old, walks up to cashier): Yeah, I’m here to get a sticker.

Cashier: Can you say please?

Little girl: Rolls eyes and ignores cashier

Little girl’s dad: (speaking to cashier) “Yeah, good luck with that.”

Um, did I just hear him correctly? His daughter was being rude and not using her manners, and instead of correcting her, he told the CASHIER good luck with that? Even at Bailey’s age, I would have told her something like, “This lady is not going to give you a sticker until you say please. We use manners when we ask for something.”

And we wonder why some kids are so bratty.

Not Me Monday- Crazy Crazy

Filed Under Eighteen Months, Not Me Monday, Professional Pictures | 9 Comments

Crazy Crazy, that’s how our life has been lately. Some of it’s good, and some of it is just annoying. The good part is that we have gotten Bailey’s Christmas pictures done, and I am going to give you a sneak peek. This is NOT the picture that will appear on our Christmas cards.

But they did an amazing job, and we could not choose just a few so we ended up buying a giant package of way too many pictures. If you need to get pictures done, check out Portrait Innovations. Their prices are really reasonable, and their backgrounds and scenery stuff is great!

I did not let my child watch Barney on repeat for two hours so that I could get my Avon order put in this morning. (Edited to add: I DO NOT LIKE BARNEY. My mom got Bailey a Barney video once from the library and she fell in love. She would choose Barney over anything else at this point. We have two videos, Shake Your Dino Tail and Barney’s Birthday Party. But it keeps her busy.)

I did not stay up until 1 a.m. the other night to watch episodes of Kitchen Nightmares online.

I did not buy five more sets of hairbows at Gymboree. I am not addicted to curly hairbows.

I did not drive fifteen minutes through traffic and pass about 30 other restaurants only to get to another IHOP when the first one was closed. No, I am not that into pancakes. And Bailey was not in the backseat yelling “Cakey! Cakey!” the whole time.

I did not have my mom iron the dress for Bailey’s Christmas pictures.

I did not spend way too long looking at a website with cheap t-shirts that have funny and tacky sayings on them. Who would do that??

I did not get a bunch of Avon orders during the middle of the night so that I could win some states for my Avon contest before other people woke up to start working on it! I am actually doing GREAT, but I still need quite a few states. If you want to help me out, check out that link or read the post immediately below this one.

I did not feed Bailey the mini peanut butter cups out of my ice cream last night. Because I was not overwhelmed by the disgusting amount of chocolate. (Really, I rarely get tired of chocolate, but it was BAD.)

To read what other people did not do this week, check out My Charming Kids.