I love knitting themed swaps!

I recently participated in a swap on Ravelry (an awesome site for those who knit and crochet, if you didn't know.) This swap was for lovers of the old show "Dark Shadows" and the packages were supposed to be themed for characters of the show. Yesterday I got my package and it's wonderful, check it out!

And my stores are live!

I finally got it all figured out! I'm now the proud owner of two Shopster stores, Red Eared Slider Supplies, and Expanding Your Family. It was tougher to figure out and get started than I thought it would be, but finally it's all a go.

http://www.redearedslidersupplystore.com/

This store is for the owners of turtles, or those who just really like them. I'm adding more things to the store as I come across them, but right now I have books on turtles and turtle care, food, vitamins and accessories for turtle lovers. Check it out!

The other store is for women who are trying to conceive and for women who are already pregnant. I have supplements, books, cheap pregnancy tests and fun pregnancy gear.

http://storefront-297166.secure2cart.com/

I'm very excited about both of the stores, as both of them fill needs that I wanted filled years ago when dealing with different issues, one serious (trying to conceive) one more fun, (learning about caring for my new little pets.)

Take a peek at the sites and let me know what you think!

Pajama Jeans?

My sister karen started it. She is the mother of a newborn, and therefore tends to be awake at odd hours right now. A few days ago she called me and told me that she had seen a commercial in the middle of the night for Pajama Jeans. When she got up in the morning, she wasn't sure if she had dreamed it, so she googled the term and found the website.
She called me shortly after, very excited. She wanted to order a pair and told me to check out the website and see if I wanted some as well. I fell in love as soon as I saw the website, although in the interest of full disclosure, I am a total sucker for advertising.
These "jeans" are supposed to look like regular jeans, but are made from some super new material that feels like a sweatshirt and is comfortable enough to sleepi in, hence the name.
Now, I love the look of jeans, but I am almost embareesed to admit that I do sometimes find them sort of uncomfortable. Sweatpants feel great, but I feel like enough of a fashion "don't" without them. I work at home and have too kids, I already feel frumpy too much of the time.
But these pants... well, I'm really ridiculously excited about this. I'm kind of shocked that my sister was so impressed, as she tends to be more put together and generally stylish than me. I never know what's cool or trendy until the trend has passed.
So, we ordered. And now we wait. I'll update when the pants arrive and I have a personal opinion on them.

Frazzled...

So. I have long known that I was no computer expert. I can do MySpace, Facebook, check email, do a bit of shopping, etc. That's about it. I decided to set up a store with Shopster. I have two turtles as pets, and I can never find supplies for them or turtle toys for my kids, so I thought it would be fun to set up a store to make these things available.

The promo materials claim to walk you through everything, it's not necessary to be a good programmer or anything. So I thought I could handle the set-up process. Turns out I either overestimated my computer skills or Shopster underestimates the difficulty of store setup. I'm guessing the problem is me, as it usually is in these situations. Now, I've been working on this since yesterday afternoon, and I think I have it sort of figured out, although I still can't see my store.

Anyone have Shopster and want to share some tips? When (and if) I figure out how to get my site life, I'll link to it. Wish me luck.

Time for change...

Back in July, I happened to come across a comment about a book on someone's blog. The book sounded interesting, so I ordered it. "The 4-Hour Workweek," by Timothy Ferriss, arrived a few days later. I was about to leave for vacation, so I gave it a cursory glance and forgot about it for the next month. It was mid-August when next I picked it up, and I haven't put it down since. The book is all about lifestyle redesign, and it's a fascinating read for whatever stage in life you are in.
It got me thinking about how out of balance my life has become. I work at home as a freelance writer, and while I love it, I feel like I've gotten away from the goals that made me want to do that in the first place. Namely, to spend lots of time with my kids. Well, I do spend lots of time with my kids, but a good deal of that is while I'm typing away while my two-year old watches cartoons next to me. Not good.
This book has made me remember my earlier goal of creating enough residual income to live on so that I don't have to do as much for up-front pay. It also gave a bunch of ideas for how to do that.
Check this book out, it is a life changer!