Me? A "Party" girl?

My loving husband does not support me getting a third job. No, I don't have a second job, but I'm searching as of now. And I have seriously thrown around the idea of a third because well, someone has to pay the bills around here. But D believes too many jobs is one of the reasons that led to his divorce, so he doesn't support me never being home in the name of making money. So what's a girl to do? I have 99% decided I'm going to start selling Scentsy as a not so obvious third job. I had thought of this before only because I wanted to get the product at a deep discount..haha. But now I'm really thinking of doing it as a source of a little extra income. I figure, almost everyone I know uses it, but no one I know has a consistent consultant they buy it from. It's my favorite thing, its a lot of peoples favorite thing..we all win. (If you don't know what it is, it's a variety of products that make your house smell fantastic, by melting scented wax in a cute warmer without wicks or flames.) So I went online last night to sign myself up and get the starter kit. I got to the page where you can download the consultant handbook and I started reading it. That was the moment I paused. It went on and on about doing Scentsy parties, how to handle them, what to say, how to approach people to sign up, etc etc. PARTIES? I've never even been to a Scentsy party. I've just bought the stuff out of a catalog because it pretty much sells itself. I don't really even know how a party is supposed to go, other than what I've now read in the handbook. Can I really be a product-hawking, stranger-friendly, weeknight-donating party girl? Could you really see ME up there in front of strangers talking about how awesome I am and telling them this product "Warms the Heart, Enlivens the Senses and Inspires the Soul"? I would be the girl to say "Hey, this makes my house smell, don't you want your house to smell too? Oh, I mean, smell good. Thanks for coming." I've been to a million different parties for a million different products and true, in the back of my mind, I always looked at the consultant and thought 'I could do that'. Now as it's actually a possibility in front of me, I'm saying 'There's no way in hell I can do that'. Well, you know me, I'm either up for a challenge or as dumb as they get, so I'm going to try. So here's my first plug... make your house smell and buy some Scentsy from me. :)

Kalie... I salute you.

Ohh, Mexico!

Although it's already like a dream, we got home from Mexico last night. We had a fabulous time. We spent the first couple nights alone at a hotel right in Puerto Vallarta, then met up with the family on Saturday at the resort to spend another week. It was so nice to have a real vacation where I could be exactly where I wanted to be and do whatever I wanted to do. We didn't do much the first few days other than walk around the city, eat and waste time at the infamous timeshare presentation. (By the way... yes, we bought one. Don't ask.) The resort was the good stuff. We swam alot, ate alot of guacamole by the pool, boggie boarded, did water aerobics, played water volleyball, ran from crabs (at least I did... Daniel chased them), enjoyed the views, spent time with the family and just plain old relaxed. We went onto town one day with the fam where I'm pretty sure we were all sweating worse than I've ever experienced. The humidity was deadly. I got the worst massage ever since my masseuse spent half the time text messaging while I was just lying there. We also got to get away and enjoy a day sailing and snorkeling alone. We also spent a day with Rebekah and Victor doing an ATV tour, which was so much fun. I've never 4-wheeled before, and now I'm in love. We went through the city, through pastures and dirt roads to a small town where we took a break and walked around a bit. Then we jumped back on and went up through the mountains to the rocky terrain, which Rebekah really enjoyed. :) After the tour we went to this total local treasure where they cook whole chickens over this open grill. The place has no walls, doubles as a car repair service and had live chickens walking around you as you eat. It was the BEST food we ate the whole time though. So good! We just drove by it a few times while on the bus and decided it an adventure that needed to be tried. Well worth it! In fact, we took another trip back there with the rest of the family.

It was a great week and it was so nice to spend the quality time with Daniel with no distractions. It was good to have most of the family together too! Now I'm just wondering when I can go back. Until then, back to the grind I go.


4-wheeling through the cattle drive.

Us four at the delicious chicken dive!

Out the back of our condo... our private pool over the ocean.

Playing Phase 10.. a family favorite.

Shopping from the on-site jewelry man.

Noelle: adorable as always.

My husband the artist got this using a rock as a tripod.

Made in Mexico

We made it in alive without any problems and have already had a great first day and made a new friend...well...as long as we show up to the presentation tomorrow. We were offered a pile of loot to go to one of the infamous timeshare presentations and the guy is so cool we couldn't say no. He told US that we aren't interested and that he "Doesn't geev aye Sheet" if we were to buy it or not cause just for us showing up he gets 6000 Pesos (aprox $600 bucks). And to top it off HE is the one who gives the presentation, so no pressure to buy. And we get...a free ATV tour (on our own non shared ATV's) into the jungle, a day sailing/snorkeling trip, free ride to our resort on Saturday (worth about $50) and some other free goods in town. I know it sounds too good to be true so we will see how it goes and let you know...but the free breakfast at the Playa Del Sol and the ride he gave us into the boardwalk would probably be worth it enough for the 30 minutes he said he needed from us to make HIS loot. He recommended a restraunt in town and did not let us down. Some good authentic Mexican food and a great view at a reasonable price. (as seen in the picture from our table). Elizabeth took some great pictures of the sunset from our balcony that we will post later. Here is another friend of ours stealing my margarita. Somebody should cut him off...I think hes had enough.

Garden Update

Just a little update on the status of my garden. It didnt actually come together as I had planned...but there is a garden with bounty to be had. A few items planted didn't make it, but the ones that did have been thriving...especially the weed people call cucumbers. Those suckers are trying to take over my whole garden, but thats ok cause there are people around me who eat them and thats all that matters (I'm not one of them). The tomatoes have really started to go crazy over the last few weeks. There aren't any ready to eat at the moment, but there are tons on the vines growing. I forgot that I planted bell peppers and they are coming up nicely as are the jalapeno's. I have about 50 carrots growing and 1 onion (yes, one lonely onion) I have about 3 zucchini plants that are doing well and about 10 yellow squash plants going nuts. Also have a few canteloupes that are growing...one in particular that is coming along very nice. All in all, if I had to grade my garden I would give it a "C". I would do a lot of things differently next time as far as where I would plant certain items and how many and such, but I have learned a lot from this years harvest that I can use for next year.

Slow Motion

"Our destination in September"

Why is it that when you have nothing exciting to look foreward to in your life time FLIES, but when you have your eye on something that you want right NOW the days just drag on...and on....and.....on? Vacation cannot get here fast enough and I think I can speak for Elizabeth on this one. WE CAN'T WAIT FOR SEPTEMBER TO GET HERE! You know what the sad part about wishing it were here right now is, its that we will blink and vacation will be over and then back to life, but with nothing exciting (in the near future anyway) to look foreward to. Actually...Utah football will be here so I will have that to be excited about (not speaking for Elizabeth anymore)

Hospital Field Trip

A week ago we were having a party at their house, and a day later our friend Dave was in the hospital with much pain and for unknown reasons. Its crazy how fast life can change. The doctors seem to think there is nothing to be overly worried about and that everything will be ok...although some surgery may be in the near future. We hope he has a quick recovery and gets back on the softball field soon. We need our all star 1st baseman back to full health.

Missing our Kitty

We knew the day was coming (Re: post Poor Little Kitty 4/30/08), but when it happens you really are never ready for it…at least I wasn’t. Last night Mr. Dookie’s battle with kidney failure came to an end. Last week his eating slowed again. Over the previous months he had regained some of the weight he had lost…although he never really looked like he did, you could tell a difference and he actually ate every day, had energy again, wanted to go outside and play and slept in our bed again, but last week he went back to not having an appetite and we would do everything but force feed him. You could see that he was becoming slower and weaker and by Sunday morning he couldn’t walk anymore. It was very apparent that he was in his last hours even though he didn’t complain much. We agreed that if he made it through the night we would take him to be put down Monday morning. I held him most of the day Sunday and at around 8:00 he finally let go and died in my arms. I’m glad we were able to have those few extra months with him and that he didn’t seem to have been in much pain. Thank you to Rachel and Boo for letting us be his foster parents for the last 5 or 6 years or however long it has been. We really enjoyed him and will miss him a lot.