Today....

Today was just one of those days, you know when it seems like you have too much on your plate to get through it, but some how you manage!

My first venture of the day was completing my catalog for The Gourmet Cupboard, but first I want to talk about my second venture, which was a visit to my eye doctor.  Now I have worn glasses since I was 10 years old, so I have been going to the eye doctor for over 30 years - this visit was just one of many for me. Eyes checked and guess what, I now need bi-focals or progressive lenses, I opted for the bi-focals as they were much cheaper and I only need them for close up reading.  What was new was that my youngest, who is only 7 had her first eye exam.  Let me set the stage for her eye appointment......


A couple of weeks ago she got my reading glasses and unbeknown to me, she took them to school and proceeded to tell her teacher that she now had glasses.  The truth came out during school conferences (her teacher and I had quite the chat).  It turns out that 3 of her friends had just gotten glasses within a span of two weeks and my daughter did not want to be left out so she took matters into her own hands (the little imp).  To make a long story short we did have some concerns about eyes so the school re-tested her vision and she was a little off for up close vision, so we scheduled a visit to the eye doctor. 

During the eye exam the Doctor (Dr. Amy) explained that all kids are born far sighted and it takes until they are about 6-7 years old for their brain to fully develop to work in conjunction with their eyes.  My daughter's vision is still slightly off, but well within the normal range of still developing.  We discussed what was going on in school and Dr. Amy said that although she did not technically need glasses, it would not hurt if we were to get her reading glasses at a +.75 strength.  The +.75 is the lowest you can get and it will help her while her eyes are still developing and won't impact her negatively once her eyes are fully developed.  So $30 later my youngest has a pair of reading glasses and a little pink princess glasses case to put them in. She is on Cloud 9!  I find it kind of funny that we made two stops to stores after we got her glasses and I heard a total of four comments on what a cute little girl and how smart you look!  I am happy that she doesn't need glasses, but was also pleased with the way everything turned out.  A Mama Pic was created when she put those glasses on!

One of the stores that I stopped at was our local Hallmark. I live in a pretty small town so stores are scarce, so it was to my dismay to find out that our local Hallmark was closing due to lack of business (tomorrow is their last day).  I was able to take advantage of their 50% off everything in the store and picked up Christmas cards, a couple of small gifts and a recipe book "A Guide to Your Spice Rack", it's a great little book full of information on spices, how to store, forms they come in and where and how to use.  If you know me, you know I like to cook, but I am not very creative so I hope this will be a help (along with my TGC products).  Someday, I will have my own garden and also plan on growing herbs so this little book will be handy!  I had both of my girls with me too so it was a nice little bonding/shopping moment for the three of us.

Now to get back to my first venture - I mentioned that I was finishing up a catalog for The Gourmet Cupboard, which I am happy to say is now online for your viewing and purchasing pleasure (that is a shameless plug for my business).  The Gourmet Cupboard has a great website which lists all of their products, but their catalog is pretty minimal, probably because we have over 200 mixes and to have photos of all would be pricey to produce.  I wanted a catalog that I could view on my computer as well as on my blog, so I created one (using the one we have as a starting point). 

I also spent the weekend attending several online parties for other home based businesses.  The parties are fun - you do an online chat, while simultaneously looking at the business website and the ordering process is done via email in most cases.  I learned several things during the parties - both what is and what is not helpful.  I think the best parties had websites with a catalog that you could browse instead of popping around a website trying to find stuff.  The best catalogs also had information in them about starting your own business, hosting a party/show and how to contact the representative.  Simple and concise with a table of contents!

I plan on doing online parties/shows in the future so I created a page on my blog "Show Time" which is intended to be a starting point for online shows and I also have the Catalog at the end of that page as well as on it's own page!  Now I can do online parties with Customers and Hostesses who are not local.  Here is a brief synopysis of how I envison an online show/party.

1. I present the party via online chat.
2. Customer orders are emailed to me.
3. I email out individual invoices for credit card payment via pay pal and the customer pays.
4. I total up the party and let the hostess know what FREE stuff she earned.
5. She (the Hostess) picks out her freebies. Note: the host could also be a him - any gender is welcome!
6. I go to The Gourmet Cupboard to place my party/show order and have individual orders drop shipped direct to each customer! 
7. Orders arrive at individual customer's homes (shipping and processing takes about 2 - 3 weeks).

Next step will be to figure out an online show date to test the waters!

Now it is time to make dinner so I am signing off.....

Take Care & Happy Cooking,
KerrieLynn