Who wants to go on an adventure with me?

Lets talk about direct sales. I've tried a couple of companies. One of them that shall remain nameless...I was a failure. I love the products and that's why I signed up. But in reality, I couldn't stand there and say that this particular product was better than one you could buy at the store. SOME of their products WERE indeed better. but most of them...were just simply....more expensive. Not better. On top of the fact that I couldn't stand behind my product, I found the quota to be unreasonable. So I became a direct sales failure.

I've looked into other direct sales companies, looking for that perfect opportunity that would bring me both a discount and an income. But the monthly/quarterly quota was a killer on all of them. It's an important question to ask, What is expected of me? What is my Quota? And then you need to decide if you are just after the discount, is it enough that you alone can fulfill that quota? And if not, do you stand behind the product enough that you can sell it to meet the quota?

I have found my company. Which company is good for you might be a different company. You have to find a product that you love, that you can be excited about because if you aren't excited about your products, you will never be able to sell them. You also have to find a business plan that you can live with. You must be able to live with every part of it.

My company is Jewelry In Candles. I love their candles and tarts. They are made of soy and burn clean. They are non-toxic. And if my kids spill them I can clean them up with soap and water. I also don't have to worry about the wax blistering their skin because soy has a lower melting temperature than petroleum wax. Unlike other similar companies, with Jewelry in Candles you can pick your jewelry: earrings, necklace or ring (pick your ring size) but men's and woman's rings. When the candle is gone, I use the jars as drinking glasses. I can say without a shadow of a doubt that my product is superior to other similar products. And the customer service behind that product is amazing.

But lets talk about being a rep. Why would I want to be one? Firstly for the discount. I get a 30% discount on everything that I buy. I was going to be buying them anyway from a friend so I decided, I might as well save as much money as I could. When I signed up, I spent $39. I save 7.49 on each candle that I buy. Once I had bought 4 candles, my sign up cost had paid for itself.

Secondly, I'm a rep for the income that I make. I use my product daily. This makes it easy for me to be excited about it. If I'm excited when I talk about my candles, then someone else is going to be excited to try it. Once they try it, I'm confident they will continue to use it. Every time they buy a candle, I make 30%. To some $7.49 might not seem like a lot of money. If I sold 8 candles a day I'd have the equivalent of a full time job making more than minimum wage in Indiana. I don't always have enough income from JIC to replace a full time job but even on a lower earning month my candle income makes my candle buying self sufficient with money left over to support my business efforts. I'm ok with that!

The quota at Jewelry in Candles is doable. I have to log into my account once every 30 days and I have to sell one product through my store once every quarter. It can even be me buying it. That's it.

JIC provides so much support. Including all the ads that you need to sell online. They give you ideas on how to run your business. the support is AMAZING.

I'm looking for a couple of people to go on this adventure with me. For the rest of the month of January 2016, you can sign up for $19.95. Send me an email at: stacylewellynjic@gmail.com to find out more information!!

https://www.jewelryincandles.com/store/stacylewellyn/i/8#storepackages

I have a couple offers for you. A: if you don't have the $20 up front, you can throw a flash party on facebook. I will run the party and when you have sold 6 candles. I will buy your store for you, the remainder of the sales from that party will run through your brand new store link. B: if you have the $20 but you would want a risk free opportunity, once you have hit $100 in sales, I will either pay you back your $20 or buy you another 20 scent samples to add to the ones that come wit your kit.

Gone are the days of trust.

It takes a village to raise a child is no longer a valid statement. There are so many awful people out there that we tend to keep our young close on hand.

Gone are the days when they were sent out the door to play after breakfast not to be seen again until their belly called them home for lunch and the dinner bell ran to call them home at night.

Gone are the days when the little ones could stand and talk to a passing elderly person to learn about their life. and for the elderly to spend a moment with the youth.

Gone are the days when an adult stops to help a child in need for fear of being accused of something other then kindness.

Gone are the days of trust.

I live next door to a dentist office and across the street from a funeral home. This exposes my children to a lot of different people. some we know, most we don't. While putting the four littles in the van I realized the youngest wasn't wearing shoes. I told them to get belted in while I ran in for the shoes. As I turned my back to go inside, a man must have walked out of the dentist office because when I came back out a few seconds later with the shoes, he stood right beside my van talking to my children. My heart skipped a beat and dropped to my stomach. What was he doing? what was he saying? why was he beside my van? I couldn't there fast enough. In reality he was about 2 feet from my van. he had his hands in his pockets in a non threatening way and he was just simply talking to them. Likely lured to the van by Grace. She loves people. all sorts of people and always manages to make friends where ever she goes. The man smiled at me when I walked up and told me that Grace was having a hard time getting Eli into his seat to buckle him. He smiled at me, told me the children were beautiful, told me to have a good day and walked away.

I felt a moment of shame for instantly wondering what harm the man could be bringing to my children. Telling myself that he seemed nice. Just as quickly telling myself that things are not always as they seem.

I wish there were not so many untrustworthy people in the world. So many evil people who bring harm to children. I know there are more well meaning people than the evil ones, but the evil ones are SO awful that we can no longer trust ANYONE.

My Gavin Project

I have spent the last 4 weeks working on my Super G (Super Gavin) Project.

I am part of a group of women that met through iVillage. We all had babies due in October 2007. We call our children the Pumpkin Seeds and each other our “invisible friends” We have seen each other through sick babies, the terrible twos, terrifying threes and so on. Our pumpkin seeds are now 5 ½. We have comforted each other through many losses in life. Whether it be the loss of a pregnancy, a parent or other family member or the loss of that perfect marriage. We have celebrated new babies and new husbands.

We recently lost one of our own. Gavin was a Pumpkin Seed. His parents were told early on in his short life that he wouldn't be able to do anything. He wouldn't so much as sit up or eat on his own. He defied all of his doctors. Not only did he sit up but he eventually progressed through all of his early life milestones. His mother, Kate's, goal was to watch him walk into Kindergarten on his first day. And as a Christmas Gift, Gavin began to take steps on his own. And he would of walked through those doors on his first day of Kindergarten, unassisted.

He suddenly fell ill 4 weeks ago and within the week he was gone. If you would like to read more about Gavin and his family, Kate's blog is here: http://www.kateleong.com/

Gavin always wore a superman shirt. He was “our” super hero. When Gavin went to the hospital, someone posted a superman logo with a G rather then a S. I offered to make my imaginary friends applique shirts with the super G logo. I thought maybe 30 shirts, but the number quickly jumped to 93 shirts.

I have prayed over these shirts. I have prayed for the people that would wear them. I have prayed for Kate, Ed, Gavin and little brother Brian. I have prayed for their family. I have prayed for myself: please God help me get these shirts done, please don't let me sew the front to the back, please don't let my sewing machine eat the shirts and please oh please don't let me sew my own finger in a rush to get them done.

As I sewed the last few shirts today, I have continued to pray. I had decided that I wasn't going to make myself a shirt. I didn't want people to think that the G logo stood for my daughter Grace. But as soon as I had that thought, I realized that the G does stand for grace. Not my curlied hair version of Grace. But the lower case grace. And the G stands for God. For it is through the Grace of God that all things are possible. It was through the Grace of God that Gavin defied all doctors. That Gavin stood as an example of what can be done through God. G also stands for Gift. What a wonderful gift it was to witness what all Gavin was able to accomplish.

I made myself a shirt and I hope that someone asks me what the G is for, because I am now prepared to answer.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God Ephesians 2:8

Super G

God
Grace
Gift
Gavin

How the Japanese teach Multiplication

(or so I've been told)

My son Ben showed me this method this morning and I really wish I would of had this when I was a kid. This is a fantastic way to help those kids who struggle with math.

We are going to multiply 132 & 25. So here we go........



Now you are going to drawl lines for each and every number you are multiplying. and you are going to group the lines so you can clearly see the number you are working with. Take 132. you will drawl 1 vertical slanted line. then 3 vertical slanted lines together and then 2 vertical lines together. for 25 you are going to drawl 2 horizontal lines together and 5 horizontal lines together. confusing? yes very??? look at the picture.....


Next use a marker to quickly put a dot where every line intersects and then group as follows (I used a high lighter to clearly show the 4 groups of dots:


Now count the dots in each group and line them up to add the number of dots together, Add as normal, right to left and carry as needed.


My answer is:


Calculators answer is:


Now lets do 13 & 22



Of course a calculator is faster. But when you have a child that struggles with math, finding fun ways to get the answer is a huge help. some kids are very hands on and multiplying is hard to grasp. you can use this method for even simple multiplying.

Because I said!

Conversations with a 4 year old can be a challenge. And no matter the topic I am always wrong.

M: Grace quit chewing on your shirt, you will put holes in it.
G: I'm not!
M: Oh yea? then how did it get wet? (I'm sure she is chewing on it)
G: I was SUCKING on it.
M: right....don't do that either. (I was so wrong)
G: why not?
M: .....????..... Because I said (yep pulled one out of the mom hat)

My kids constantly stump me. Leaving me with no good reasons for the things I say to them. It's hard to always be right when I rarely am. But I'm the mom so my word is law. It's my reward for becoming a mom. Just as it was my mother's reward and so on back as far as mother's go.

Because I said, usually means we have no idea why we said what we said.

From Men's polo to little girl's dress.....how it's done!

Now before we begin I'd like to put forth a disclaimer. I made this "pattern" up. it's not perfect, but it makes up a cute dress. if you try it and hate it. it's totally NOT MY FAULT. just saying..... (disclaimer 2 - I can't spell. period. )


Step 1: Snag a polo that your husband/teen age son no longer wants or hit up Goodwill. Prepare your polo by cutting off the sleeves along the seam.


Step 2: find a dress that already fits your child that you like the shape of. Also a t-shirt that currently fits your child.

Step 3: button up the shirt. if there are lines on the shirt, pin the edges so that the lines line up.

Step 4: turn your shirt and your sample dress inside out and line up the shoulder seams, making sure that the colar of the polo is centered. (in the picture my pieces are not turned inside out but you get the idea)

Step 5: Trace the sample dress. Do not trace right next to the edge you need to cut your dress 1/4 inch bigger then your sample dress so you have room to sew it all together. When you get the sleeve of the dress, fold the sleeve inside so that you can see where the seam of the sleeve is to get the proper shape. once again. do not trace right on the seam! My sample dress was too short so I made my new dress longer. I also cut off the bottom of the shirt. save this part if you are going to do a ruffle.

Step 6: cut one side of the dress all the way up to the top seam but do NOT cut the front from the back at the top of the shoulder but do shape the sleeve opening.

Step7: fold your polo in half, pin all lines together so that you know when you sew it up, everything will line up.

Step 8: use the first side that you cut as a pattern to cut the 2nd side. Open your dress up and make sure that you like the shape.

Step 9: turn your dress inside out with right sides together and once again, pin your lines so that they match up. sew each side 1/4 inche from the raw edge unil you come to the bottom edge of the arm hole. do not sew the arm hole! I only say this because I tend to space out while I'm sewing and before I know it, I've sewn my project completly shut!

Step 10: turn your shirt right side out...tada! you have a dress! try it on your victim...er...child and make sure you like the fit. if it's too small...oops..find a new shirt and start over, if it's too big you can make adjustments.

Step 11: time for the sleeves! I use a t-shirt to get a rough size of the sleeves, how long they will be and how big around. As you can see, this t-shirt sleeve fits nicely into the opening in my dress.

Line the edge of the t-shirt sleeve up with the bottom edge of your polo shirt sleeve (with both sleeves folded in half). Trace the sleeve side onto your polo sleeve. Remember not to trace directly on the line of the shirt. leave room for sewing.

After you have traced the side, take away the t-shirt, then follow the curve of the top of the polo sleeve to get the top of your new shirt sleeve, as you can see I went a little flat at the top of my line, I fixed this when I cut it out.

Step 11: use your first sleeve as a pattern to create your second sleeve.

Step 12: sew the edge of your sleeves using 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Step 13: Putting the sleeves on your dress can be tricky if you have never done sleeves before. Make sure your dress is turned INSIDE OUT. Make sure your sleeve is turned RIGHT SIDE OUT. If you don't do this, then when you turn your dress right side out, your sleeve will be inside out! take my word on it, I've done it. (more then once.) Slide your sleeve inside your dress so that the raw edges line up and make sure your two seams that you sewed are together. pin these two seams together.

Line the sleeve up along the sleeve opening to see how close the sleeve comes to fitting the dress. if it's slightly to big, no big deal, take a few tucks at the rounded top (the shoulder) as you sew it on. This will give you a puffy sleeve. If it's SLIGHTLY too small, once again, no big deal because knit is forgiving and you can stretch it to fit your opening. if it's way too small, ditch the sleeve, and hem the arm opening...tada...tank dress!

Step 14: sew both sleeves on.

Step 15: turn your dress right side out. if both of your sleeves are right side out and your dress is right side out. good job! now stand back and say to yourself....holy cow I just made a dress! how cool is that???? ok maybe you don't want to stand back and say this...but every time I make something and it turns out just the way I wanted it to...I get excited. :o)

Step 16: if you know how to do a ruffle, you can use the part you cut off the bottom of the shirt to do a ruffle. If you don't, just hem the bottom and call it done. I did put a ruffle on Grace's dress. But I'm not going to tell you how I do it becuase it always requires a fair amount of bad words on my part. As a side note, the button opening in this shirt was bigger then I liked and when I put the dress on Grace it puckered a little bit so I sewed it shut up to the bottom button and now it lays nicely.

Bird or animal or ?????

The vent in the dining room has been making a "pecking, scratching" noise for the last few days. We were convinced there was a critter in there.

Yesterday the vent was slightly off the wall (turn of the century house). Not sure why the vent was off the wall but we decided to be brave.

I braced myself and removed the vent from the wall. ducking...nothing came out but the noise continues. Andrew and I make Ben look. he can't see anything and wants my phone since it's a flashlight too. noo way if anyone is going to drop my phone it's going to be me!

Andrew and I move the sewing machine table so we can see in the vent. I start shaking the vent around and the sound continues.

Imagine this: Andrew, Ben and I side by side on our knees looking at this vent while Grace stands behind us demanding to know what is happening. Finally I hold my phone over the hole while Andrew shoves his head in the wall and looks down.

Ohhhhh he says.

I look. Grace Anne I say!

What??? she says.

What??? says Ben.

Andrew reaches in and pulls out the top of the dog food bag. the part that the sting is laced through, you pull the string and the top comes off. Every time the AC came on it made that strip of bag tap on the sides of the vent. He also pulled out a very nasty fork, a writing pen and a plastic spoon that belongs to Grace's tea set.

Grace SWEARS she didn't put the stuff in then vent. If it wasn't her, my second suspect is a blond hair, blue eyed little one year old boy who is much like Grace, but belongs to my sister ;o)

I have one thing to say though: Thank goodness the sound has stopped! it was driving me crazy!!!!