In Christ Alone

I've been lost in MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) world the past couple days at work because we have to take an inventory of every single potentially hazardous chemical that may be located in any product we use in our building. Why you ask? Because our lovely state requires us to fill out a survey letting them know all this interesting information just in case anybody in the public has difficulty sleeping one night and wants to look up this information. If we don't complete it, we can be find $2,500 per DAY. Needless to say, all my organic chemistry and math skills from my pre-med days are coming in handy for a litlte bit.

To keep my sanity through it all, I've had Pandora running in the background. One song that happened to come up a lot today (though sung by different artists each time) was "In Christ Alone". This is one of my favorite hymns of all time and I wanted to share the life-giving words with you:

In Christ alone my hope is found,

He is my light, my strength, my song;

this Cornerstone, this solid Ground,

firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

What heights of love, what depths of peace,

when fears are stilled, when strivings cease!

My Comforter, my All in All,

here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone! who took on flesh

Fulness of God in helpless babe!

This gift of love and righteousness

Scorned by the ones he came to save:

Till on that cross as Jesus died,

The wrath of God was satisfied -

For every sin on Him was laid;

Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay

Light of the world by darkness slain:

Then bursting forth in glorious Day

Up from the grave he rose again!

And as He stands in victory

Sin's curse has lost its grip on me,

For I am His and He is mine -

Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,

This is the power of Christ in me;

From life's first cry to final breath.

Jesus commands my destiny.

No power of hell, no scheme of man,

Can ever pluck me from His hand;

Till He returns or calls me home,

Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

Today Definitely Qualifies

I'm normally not one to say, "I need a drink!", but today definitely qualifies as a day where I may need to utter that saying more than once.

CRAZY insane today at work. I'm sure it's going to stay this way for at least a couple weeks.

I think I may need to buy stock in Jose Cuervo because my consumption of strawberry margaritas will hit an all time high in the coming days. Not really. Well, maybe just one.

What's your favorite way to unwind? Mine would be a frozen strawberry margarita, delicious chicken enchiladas and my favorite tv shows.

2 Days in a Row? Seriously?

I give up on being able to use the toilet at work anymore.

We recently split our building in half and my nice private bathroom (thanks to the fact I was the only female here) stayed on the half that's now rented out. That means I now have to share a bathroom with men. Dirty, smelly men.

I finally convinced the boss to let me buy some seat covers (or a** gaskets as his son referred to them...I have to admit that gave me a good chuckle because I never heard them called that) only to realize yesterday that it clogged the toilet when I went to flush it. Bring on embarrassing situation #1.

"Yum, excuse me boss. Do we have a plunger anywhere?"

That's one question I never hoped to have to ask at work.

Well, remember that nice private bathroom I used to have? Turns out our one and only plunger must have somehow got put in there when we split the building. Bring on embarrassing situation #2 - drive down the road to the plumbing supply store where a bunch of men work and ask them if they carry plungers and if so can I purchase one.

I didn't possibly think it could get any worse. Boy, was I wrong.

Braving use of the bathroom again today, I proceeded to flush only to have the problematic handle which is known to fall off from time to time fly up in the air and land smack dab in the toilet right as everything finishes flushing down the drain. Down goes the toilet paper. Down goes the seat cover. Down goes the handle.

"Yum, boss. Know that handle that falls off from time to time? Well, it fell into the toilet right as it was flushing and it kinda went down the drain."

Provided I still have a job tomorrow after messing with the toilet two days in a row, I'm never using the bathroom at work again.

Thankfully my boss has already pretty much told me I could do whatever I want and he doesn't care. He might reconsider after this, though!

UPDATE: Boss just came in to report that he's going to have to take the whole toilet off because the handle is not in the trap. Hopefully we don't have to bust up the concrete floor that the pipe runs under. Why does stuff like this happen to me?

Vetoed Values

I've been working on this huge presentation for work and one of the slides contains our value statement.

Being tired of boring lists, I spent the past hour developing a contemporary image containing the words that compose the values we hold dear as a company.

I just showed it to my boss to be told, "I think we should just list them."

Personally, I like the "art" version better, but gotta do what the boss says.

Here's the artsy version:

What do you think?

I didn't know we were responsible for your cow eating your plug

Life on a farm is never boring.

Thankfully, it wasn't one of OUR cows who ate a plug. Although the party appears to be officially over now that the cows came home this past Sunday.

Alright. That was bad. But, I had to get it in their somewhere!

On Monday hubby had the pleasure of dealing with a customer of one of the businesses we run. It went something like this:

Customer: "Hi, I'm calling because my cow chewed through the cord and ate the plug to my [heat detection] system. Apparently my pasture wasn't appealing enough to her so she decided to try something with a little more zing to it's flavor. Oh, and silly me, instead of calling you and asking you to send me a new $10 converter plug, I decided to just plug the system directly into the wall and ended up frying the whole thing. I mean it's really not that important to convert the voltage to match the voltage output of the outlet, right? Anywhoodle, I know that this is completely your fault that my cow ate my plug so please send me a brand new system at no cost right away. After all, I can't afford to lose one penny of the $40,000+ I'm going to make when I flush these embryos after using this system."

Alright, so the parts in italics I completely added myself; but, they're a much more lighthearted version of a conversation that went more like this:

Customer: "Hi, I'm calling because my cow chewed through the cord and ate the plug to my [heat detection] system. I tried to fix this problem myself by just plugging the remaining cord directly into the outlet and my system started to smoke and now won't work. I need this system working right away because I'm in the middle of flushing all my embryos and can't afford to lose any of the money I'll make when I do that."

Hubby: "Well sir, I'm sorry that your cow ate the plug, but I wish you had called us over the weekend so we could send you a new plug. By plugging your system directly into the wall without using the converter plug, the board inside your system is now fried and beyond repair."

Customer: "Then send me a new system right away, please. I won't incur any cost, right?"

Hubby: "I'm sorry, sir. I can't do that because our warranty doesn't cover improper usage of the system or a cow eating the plug. I can though offer to sell you a new system at our cost."

Customer: "That's great. How much is that a few hundred dollars?"

Hubby: "Well, if we just needed to send you a new plug, it would have been about $10. But, because the board is fried beyond repair, the cost of that part is $1500."

Customer: "That's crazy! I'm beginning to see what my problem is. My problem was getting involved with your company in the first place!"

CLICK.

Apparently some ranchers do believe we are responsible for their cow eating the plug on their system, and their stupidity of trying to make 110volt AC and 12volt DC compatible without using a plug with a built in converter.

The customer did eventually call back later in the day and my father-in-law answered. The report is there was a remarkable change in attitude on the customer's end, so hopefully something can be worked out.

Life on a farm...it's shocking! (Alright...sorry for another bad pun.)

Holiday Craft Bazaar

Alright, so my sale unfortunately happened to coincide with Monica's at The Rusty Robin, but we're offering different type things, so it should work. I don't have any fancy name yet for my shop so until I do, I'll just post things here. Also, before the end of the year, I'm going to be opening up my graphic design business so if you need invitations, business cards, letterhead, mailers, marketing materials, etc. I'll be the girl for your job! More details will follow on that.

For now, if you see any item below that you want, leave me a comment with your zip code and a way to contact you, and I'll figure out shipping and let you know. All items will ship as soon as possible and for the cheapest way possible. Also, I make custom requests so if you want say wine charms or a memo board, contact me with a theme/color and we'll see what we can work out. A few items are already pre-sold, but I'm posting them here to give you ideas of what I provide. Happy shopping!

Handmade Christmas Countdown with distressed frame.
Counts down Dec. 1-24 with a different fun activity for each day.
(NOTE: I fixed the ric-rac in the bottom left so it's not crooked)

Price: $25
Qty: 1

"Let it Snow" sign
Price: $2
Qty: 1

**SOLD** Snowflakes
Price: $1.50/each or 5/$4
Qty: 5


Ho, ho, ho Sign
Price: $2
Qty: 1

**SOLD** Christmas Trees
Price $1.50 each or 4/$3.50
Qty: 4

**SOLD** Santas
Price: $1.50 each or 2/$2.50
Qty: 2

**SOLD** Wreath Ornaments
Price: .75/each or 5/$2.50
Qty: 5

**SOLD** Gingerbread Men Ornaments
Price: .75/each or 5/$2.50
Qty: 5

**SOLD** Christmas Tree Tin Holder
Price: $5
Qty: 1


**SOLD** Simplify Box
Price: $8
Qty: 1

**SOLD** Turquoise Sunset Necklace, Bracelet & Earring Set
Handmade with antique turquoise beads, shells, and silver charms

Price: $40
Qty: 1
(can make more if requested or in different colors/styles)

**SOLD** Wine Glass Charms
Wood & Glass beads in Browns & Blacks on Silver Hoops

Price: $3/each or 12/$24
Qty: 12
(can make more if requested or in different colors/styles)

Black Distressed Frame with Mirror

Price: $6
Qty: 1

**SOLD** Fabric Memo Board (needs to have buttons put on still)

Price: $15
Qty: 1

(Can make more if requested in whatever fabric/colors you choose. Different sizes available. Price may vary depending on size and fabric choice)

**SOLD** Live, Laugh, Love Sign

Price: $4
Qty: 1
(Can make more if requested with different phrases, sizes, colors. Price may vary.)

**SOLD** Flower Decor Box

Price: $4/each or 2/$6
Qty: 2

Small Canning Jars with Autumn Fruits & Nuts (Decor use only). Can double as candle rings.

Price: $6/each or 2/$10
Qty: 2

**SOLD** Bird & Nest Table Decor or Placeholders

Price: $4/each or 12 for $30
Qty: 12
(Can make custom napkin rings/table decor in your colors or style. Price may vary.)

Glue, Paint, Beads, Shopping & QuickBooks

These words sum up my past few days.

I now do the bookkeeping for 4 different companies. The one I work at for my "full-time" job, my husband's company, my freelance client, and now one of the companies that my husband's investors own. This doesn't count the personal bills I have to keep on top of for two different houses! Thank goodness I love crunching numbers otherwise I think I'd have gone insane by now!

When I wasn't staring at a computer screen and getting myself even more acquainted with the number pad on my keyboard, I was surrounded by paint, glue, paper, fabric, ribbon, staple guns, beads, etc. It was craft room appreciation weekend for me! I had hit a few stores Friday morning for a quick shopping trip (5 hours is quick, right?) to stock up on the last few items I needed to make Christmas gifts and some things to sell to try to earn some extra money. I only got a few things finished, but am very happy with the results so far. Once I have more done, I'll post a few photos of what I've been working on and ban my family from reading my blog until after the holidays at the same time!

All this creativity, and the overwhelming need for some extra cash to help cover the bills, got me thinking about the fact that I really need to open a shop where I can turn my talents into income. I've been told many times that I should sell the things I make, but I guess my fear of nobody liking the stuff I make has held me back. Well, after browsing around Etsy and some other sites yesterday, I realized my items are just as good of quality, if not better, than some of the items people are selling. So, in the not too distant future, I'll be opening up a website to try to pick up some more freelance work and to sell items I make. Right now, though, I need help coming up with a name.

If any of you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments section. If I end up using any of them, I'll give away one item that will be posted on my new web store. To help get those creative juices flowing, here are a few words that describe me or the things I'll be selling:

Types of things I'll sell:
Graphic Design
Custom Invitations & Favors
Handmade Cards
Fabric Covered Memo Boards
Miscellaneous Craft Supplies
Jewelry
Throws

Words that describe me:
Introverted
Family-oriented
Creative
Type A
Organized
Competitive
Loves the outdoors
Loves the warm colors of Tuscany
Loves travelling
Loves baking

Any suggestions anyone may have would be greatly appreciated! Also, keep your eye open for my new site.

A Day "Off" - Who was I kidding?

This past week I began my new 4-day work week schedule. The intention is to save gas money on my 80 minute commute per day and to have some extra time to get things done around the house so I don't have to spend my whole weekend doing chores instead of relaxing. We also factored in some time for me to work for hubby in his office so that he can have an assistant one day out of the week. In addition, I picked up some additional bookkeeping work to do as well.

Friday was my first official day "off" and all my lofty goals...yeah, they didn't really get accomplished. Hubby and I had dentist appointments in the morning and that really chopped a huge part out of our day. We then tried to get a little work done in the office, but I was feeling antsy about getting to the grocery store before the after work crowds hit, so I cut out early without getting all my work done. The laundry and cleaning the bathroom got nixed for the more important task of preparing the food I was serving for my Pampered Chef party the next morning and cleaning the main level of the house for said party.

After the party on Saturday, hubby and I headed to Sleepy Hollow, NY to meet with one of his clients who works at the Rockefeller farm/estate, Hudson Pines. This is where hubby spent his winter months helping with the calving when we were first dating, and thus where he met quite a few of his financial clients. We had a great time with them and love hanging out at the gorgeous farm whenever we get the chance.

Sunday brought us church, and then because we hadn't gotten all our work done on Friday, it was back out to the office for us for some more work so we'd be prepared for the meeting tonight with the guy I'm doing the bookkeeping for. I still have a few more questions so I can understand clearly what he's wanting (not to mention his not so conventional way of keeping books in the past!) and move forward from there.

Hopefully this next Friday will be a little more productive, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

The Lord Provides

Hubby and I have been praying that the Lord would bless hubby's hard work and effort at trying to grow his firm and gain new clients. It's frustrating to see the money going out the door in a flood of advertising bucks, but only trickling back in slowly through small clients. I guess it does take people awhile to trust someone enough to hand them all their money to manage, even if they are well outperforming the market in every single one of the portfolios they manage.

This past week, I spoke with my boss and asked him if it'd be possible for me to change from working 9 to 5 Monday through Friday to working 8 to 5 Monday through Thursday. The reasoning behind this was so I could save on gas and have some extra time to work for my hubs and help him with his business. So, starting July 7th, I now only work 4 days a week!

While this was an answer to prayer in itself, the Lord is also answering our prayers in a different way.

Last night when I got home, hubby was on the phone talking with one of his current clients who is looking for someone to take over his bookkeeping. Well, I do the QuickBooks for hubby's business, the current company where I work, and one of hubs other clients already, so this would be a no brainer job for me that I can do from home. Plus, he'd pay about $500 a month (for only a couple of hours work a week) which more than makes up for the little bit I'm losing by cutting down to 4 days a week.

So, while we were (and still are) praying for the Lord to bless my hubby's business, He has provided a way for us to meet our financial needs in the meantime as well.

Last night hubby asked if I make enough money bookkeeping if he can retire. I told him, yeah, right! I want to be able to be a stay-at-home mom and wife!