Halloween --the nonscary route

BOO! Happy Halloween.

I love Halloween. I think dressing up in costumes are fun.

Guess what I bought? Ruby slippers. Yup! I found them in my size 11, on ebay in a cross-dressers shoe store. Go figure! Glad anyways that I finally got them. I LOVE these shoes. I'm going to wear them out. Maybe I'll wear them for Christmas eve service with my black velvet dress too! hehehe

Great time of the year to hand out candy, coloring book pages, and Avon books for the Mommies who come to the door. Alexander loved the trick/treaters but cried when each one left. He didn't care they looked strange, just stay and play a while. :)

I wish we were more organized this year, so John and I could have gone out somewhere to a Halloween party for adults. Besides the Trick or Treaters and decorating a bit....it was just another day.


**s**

Vendor Sales ROCK!

Our annual (4th year) biggie Christmas sale came and went already. We did excellent. I think things get better with time and practice. We did better than we ever did before. Of course all the profits are going to fund our adoption to China.

It was a lot of work. Actually we were busy constantly all day. My feet were hurting so I really didn't walk around. We stayed in our booth and took in money.

We sell a LOT of chapstick! We sold 2 large jumbo ziploc bags of chapstick at 50cents each. WOW! I prepare my chapstick collection all year round so there are interesting flavors from throughout the year in there to choose from. I put them in these 2 big gold containers and people come over and dig around in them looking for the perfect flavor. It's silly but fun!

What a fun event.
I sold a lot of things and was totally tired when it was done, but my Avon gets organized after being put on the tables. 2-3 more sales before the end of the year.

**s**

What a wonderful day

For the past month I have been suffering, probably why I haven't posted sooner. Why is it that medical science most times doesn't work for me?
My shoulder was out of socket. I went earlier in the month and got a cortazone shot. It helped but didn't fix the problem. Today we saw a new chiropractor and he popped it back into socket. I went somewhere else and was told it couldn't even be fixed. This guy goes WHAM! and I feel better.
What a Blessing!

Autumn colors are everywhere. What a beautiful time of year. It's even nicer when you feel like dancing because someone stopped your shoulder pain.

ttfn
**s**

Power of a blessed tongue

Good Tuesday Morning!
(Well, I guess it's really the afternoon.)

I guess I want to talk about the power of the tongue today. I had this pep talk with my dad today. He's one to speak nasty or hateful things against his children (my brother and I). The thing is, he should speak well of us as we aren't bad people and have done quite well for ourselves. We both went to college and graduated, both are working, both are good citizens...and aren't druggies or living off of welfare.

Our pep talk included the saying: "if you don't have something nice to say, don't speak at all." John (my dh) says that's from the Bambi movie. I guess I don't remember that, maybe I'll have to find that tape and watch it tonight.

Evil can breed evil. Good can breed good. Ever heard "you are what you eat?" or "if you lay down with dogs you'll end up with fleas?" or maybe "do unto others as you'd have them do unto you?" I once heard the last one said "do it to others before they do it to you." I guess that's the wrong point on that Bible verse, isn't it?

What if we make good things happen by speaking happiness and love in our words and actions instead of living in the negativity. Doesn't it sound like I should hand you a flower and say "peace" right about now?

What if dad's speaking negative is some of the reasons things happen the way they do in this town? I know it's true. I'm a business owner in this town but if my dad says evil (some aren't worthy writing here) and people turn away from wanting to purchase items from me...evil wins.

The purpose of this blog is to try to uplift God in my daily life, maybe show others that Christians live normal lives too. Some think Christians live in bubbles.

Be blessed.
**s**

PS: I'm blessed to have a Heavenly Father who loves me, even when my earthly father is ashamed of me!

Legion meeting...Oct

This is the pin I bought for a couple of bucks. It's the official Bernie Bear pin, she's the new president for this next year of the Am Legion Aux.

Beyond buying a pin, most locals in our group probably don't even know who she is or what's going on. Say "email" or "internet" and they freakout. They talked about getting a webpage but then the grammas tell you they don't have computers. Seems some people live in the dark, some live in the gap, and some live in the real world.

Amazingly enough, technology scares people. I wonder why? It's not scary being online. Amazing again that I'm an expert compared to most, and I still feel like there are tons of things I'd like to know more about. WOW!

Next meeting will be a big one, potluck, speeches, and my poppy centerpieces to raffle off. It should be fun, if my babysitter gets here in enough time so I can help decorate and bring food over there.

Still amazing that the internet scares people.

**s**

Pain in shoulder---be gone

Ever suffer from shoulder pain? I don't know why it's here but it's been hurting for 3 weeks. I had a shot for the pain today and I might actually survive it.

Someone made me this bear w/my name. It's cute.

Working on paperwork for China.

GOAL: NEED TO MAKE A PACKING LIST so I'm not forgetting something important to take along.


Going to go
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Church presentation --adoption

We were asked to speak at Church about our upcoming adoption from China. It would be a blessing, regardless if they just thought we'd need a tiny piece of time. They only called John to the front, but I went too.

We had this wonderful video to share. And also this poem. I'll add it to the end so that others could read it too.

Our message was that we can't save all the orphans in the world, but it would be a blessing to save one.

Our little Rachel Qin will someday call us all a family. It's taken so long to get all the paperwork gathered, notorized, and processed.

I think our message was heard as many people are now asking us when are we going, what do we need, and how can they help us. What a gift!

Here's the story:

No, we can't save all the orphans....but what if we just were to save one?

The Starfish Story
Author Unknown.
There was a young man walking down a deserted beach just before dawn.
In the distance he saw a frail old man. As he approached the old man,
he saw him picking up stranded starfish and throwing them back into the sea. The young man gazed in wonder as the old man again and again threw the small starfish from the sand to the water. He asked, "Old man, why do you spend so much energy doing what seems to be a waste of time." The old man explained that the stranded starfish would die if left in the morning sun. "But there must be thousands of beaches and millions of starfish!" exclaimed the young man. "How can you make any difference?" The old man looked at the small starfish in his hand and as he threw it to the safety of the sea, he said, "It makes a difference to this one!".


**s**

October starts

At times it's hard to post here, I'm not sure who's reading along, or who cares....but this blog exists. Fall is in fullswing. We spent most of the summer adding on our 2nd floor and it took far longer than we could have imagined.

October is a great month. Lots of decorations make the month more soothing, basically fall is the start of winter. Winter is a long cooped-up season here.

I will have to find out about haunted houses. Too bad my nephew doesn't like them. I think I'll always enjoy a good scare in the dark. I've been going to haunted houses since I was little.

Happy October 1st.


**s**

local craftshows

Craftshow ---been there, done that, would go again.
There was a local craftshow here this weekend, I went and sold Ma's crafts and a few of my own ideas. We had a BAD location, and we didn't do well. We were set up to fail.

I have about 2 more coming up in the future that will do better, I'm hoping. The nice thing is I can sell what I want to sell and not be limited to crafts.

Why don't I plan ahead and make crafts to sell for this annual craftshow? I want to be in it, but always seem craftless at the last minutes.

Goal for next year (not to self---start a list) MAKE A CRAFTSHOW BOX so that you are ready for this craftshow. I know how to make ooodles of things so why not make some up to sell, if all else, I'd have some neat gifts to give away.

**s**

Convention is done -lines

I wore my red hat and was found by my online friends. The convention was okay if you can avoid the lines. I am the Queen of avoiding lines. Why stand in line if you don't have to or need to?
I think some people are trained to stand in lines. "Excuse me, is there a line to stand in around here?"

Did I learn anything new? Was it worth it? Would I go again? I'd go again, but learning things can be harder to pinpoint at times. I am aware of what I sell, I know how to sell it, and I can sell it---so where are my customers?

Didn't really see what I thought we would. I miss the big conventions usually held in Chicago with all the new exciting Christmas stuff out on display. I don't really know what's new or coming out to prepare myself or my customers. I can't preplan because I just don't know what's coming out.

I went, I looked, I came home.
**s**

Avon Convention in WI Dells

Saturday was interesting for this night owl. I was up at 630 a.m. and I was actually dressed and in the car at 7:15 a.m. The convention started at 8ish and we got there early to pick out good seats.

I wore my redhat so my online friends could find me. I guess I look good in red because people kept asking me for directions or advice. Strange?

The product expo was kind of junky. I don't think they even got 1% of the items available for Christmas to display at this event. It seems that Avon wants to compete with Walmart and they are pushing back their sales a month of so. Instead of doing big product bundles they are doing smaller bundles and only for PC or above. There's suppose to be a BIG Christmas book and it looks like we'll be selling right up to Christmas. I pray that backorders aren't a common practice or this whole idea will fall on their faces!

Also the VIP card was a big topic, if you buy alternative, a lipstick gloss, or extraordinary perfume you get this card which will give you discounts again later off other Christmas products.
Will it work? I'm not sure---we'll have to see. Doubt it will, but I'll be optimistic.

Overall I'd give the convention a C. It was okay, nothing extraordinary....just the same as other conventions. I wish we could have gotten a Christmas preview book, but we didn't.

I'll sell it---regardless when it comes out. I would love to make Honor Society this year.

Glad I'm home--there's no place like home!

**s**

taking Friday off

We took Friday off to head to the other side of the state for my convention. It was a great day. We made stops along the way at garage sales and my favorite Goodwill in Wausau. They must have known I was coming as I found some great brass swan things there.

I rebooked our hotel as the staff at the convention's hotel were very rude. I found a cheaper hotel a few miles away, so we stayed at the Best Western instead. They had wireless dsl, breakfast, pool, and hottub. We got a room on the 3rd floor that was really nice. It's better to stay somewhere that's going to make me happy than to stay somewhere that doesn't have some of the basics we require in a hotel. I'm glad we switched locations.

We ate at a KFC/A&W combo. That's a cool combo. Too bad they don't have any in my town.
I could get use to eating chicken and a&W rootbeer regularly. :)

To to the avon convention...
**s**

notary stuff is back

Great news from the mailbox----our notary paperwork is BACK already. WOW! It got there and left on Tuesday. Does that mean that God wants us to shake our tail and get the paperwork into our agency? I'm hoping to go to China in November. China in winter, oh boy!

John's gone today. Although we talk a bunch on the phones when he's not here. We've decided to hire an employee --more of a sandra's assistant. She would be a "Jill of all trades." as someone said on one of my lists. I think we'll do group interviews like the airlines always had so that we can test and talk to everyone at one time instead of dragging the whole process out for weeks. If we find 2 people, then we'll try 2. If we find none, then I guess we hire no one. It sounds like a good plan, now to make up an application that fits our needs. Most were too generic.

Alexander was wearing a 24 months outfit today. Wow----that seems so big. I remember the newborn outfits he once had in his dresser. Mama's little weed!

**s**

Tuesday --We went to see Brother's Grimm tonight at the movies. It was bring your own bucket for popcorn night. We usually go on Tuesdays to the movies if we go at all. There were only the 3 of us in the movie. That was cool! That means we can talk if we wanna talk.

I had Will show me which digital camera he has so I could get one too. John's isn't working as good anymore since disks are hard to find and their quality is poor. I hope he likes this new one. Another item badly needed before we head off to China in the future.

Plus it will be nice to have a better working camera to take pictures with and it holds like 500 pictures in the memory. That's really high tech to what we have now.

We watched a beautiful lightening storm on the way to the movies. I guess it might not have been as pretty to those that were at the bottom of those bolts. Lightening danced across the dark sky as we drove to and from the movies.

**s**

Monday again

I found this picture on someone's ebay site...it was too cute not to take for my own. Gotta love bears in hats.

Monday again...John went to the chiropractor and the dr. Not sure what's wrong but he has a pain in his back. They sent him for bloodwork and put him on some silly diet. It was basically a high carb diet--totally opposite of months ago. He lost 10 pounds since April...did I find them?

Mailed our notary paperwork today.

Will came home really late tonight. I guess he was bored on the Island. He brought home my birthday presents--Minnie and Mickey Mouse plush toys and 2 margarita glasses. He's going to take us to the movies on Tuesday.

**s**

Sunday nursery

Sunday--we went to church. Alexander couldn't stay quiet so it was my turn to go to the nursery. I might a well stay home instead of going to the nursery, you don't hear anything going on outside of it. He needs to have someone go with him as there are too many kids and not enough workers. Also it seems some kids play too rough and he doesn't know how to fight back yet. It'll come in time I'm sure.

John's learning how to grill out on his flame-thrower, I mean gas grill. We actually had chicken today that didn't taste like a piece of coal. He'll get the hang of it someday. :)

Today's a short one---Happy Grandparent's Day.

**s**

Hello all. Today was a fun day, we went to the parade. I should say we were IN the parade. I dragged my nephew Shawn along to hand out flyers and a few books. He was grouchy the whole while we were there. John handed out books on one side and Shawn did the other side. John handed out about 3 times more than Shawn did. I guess you can't make someone work if they never learned how.

Alex watched the people as we went by in the parade and I drove our suburban. I put all kinds of banners on it and I even wore my big red hat. It was a lot of fun. I don't know if it will drum up any new business but I guess we'll have to leave that in God's hands.

The rest of the day was a lazy one. It was really hot and humid so I took a nap.

Onward to a new week!

**s**

fridaytime

Friday--time to party! Weekends usually involve more work than weekdays do because I cram so many activities into 1-2 days.

There's a parade tomorrow, one of the lasts for the season. We're going to go be IN the parade. Promote my business :)
Then there is a flea market. Sunday is church. Plus we have lots of other odd jobs to finish around the house.

Agency called us back and said paperwork should be good to go the way we did it. Hurray!

I slept in today so I am running behind again. Hard to catch up when you pass yourself in the hallway each morning. Am I getting up, or just going to bed? I forget.

I was voted 2nd Vice Chair for the Legion Aux. for the next 2 years. Seems a pointless position, beyond the fact that I'm responsible for putting stuff in the papers. Seems the secretary should be doing that. Anyways I'm an officer....oh goodie.

HAVE a GREAT weekend!
**s**

adoption notorizing is like pulling teeth

This is an older picture, but I haven't shared one of "us" yet. Introducing Sandra and John...together 7 years and going strong.

Notorizing is 1/2 done. Locally it was like pulling teeth. Amazing our agency tells us how easy it is, however it was a giant speedbump like I thought it would be. I'm glad we brought the State's phone number so that we could call and the bank notory could call and find out what needed to be done.

Now we send in a request form to the State of WI to get our paperwork approved. This should be the final step before our paperwork is sent off to our intl agency and it goes off for approval in China.

We figure it's 99 days or less until we go to China.

We are off to our monthly American Legion meeting. John's an officer, but I am not :( OR should I say "not yet."

**s**

Experiencing God study & adoption update

Wednesday --middle of the week time!

Tonight we are planning on doing a Bible Study at the church called Experiencing God. I bought the book on half.com and started reading it. It seems okay, the book does believe that if you don't move quickly you will loose the will of God...like it's a train. Isn't it easier to try to stay in the will of God, instead of trying to weave in and out of it?

Not sure if everyone in the class is even going to get a copy of the book or if the leader is going to just read from the book and everyone else will listen. I plan on reading it along to make sure I know what the book is really about for myself.

Too bad they don't have any kids 1-3 yrs coming on Wednesdays so Alexander could play along with them in the nursery. Once he turns 2, I guess they said they could put him in a class...but at 19 months old...no class? Strange what 5 months difference can make. Oh well, either we will leave him home with my sister or we'll forget about the class all together.

We talked to our international adoption agency today and in less than 100 days we should be going to China. I just counted it out --a 100 days from today is December 15th. I'm hoping it's sooner than that. Soon Rachel Qin will be here--hurray!

**s**