wow it's been a while

Wow does time fly when you are busy. I have been so busy lately. We recently moved, which was at first very stressful and pretty depressing to leave the old house. Now that we are settled in here at our new home its not so bad. We are temporarily in a condo for a year at most. The kids are adjusting better than I thought they would. Sure they still miss the huge yard we had. The rainy Washington weather is here. So that has helped a little with the yard issue. My husband was laid off last week until March. He is a mason and has normally worked through the winter but not this winter. His company said the economy is just not good enough to support the construction industry through the winter in the Northwest. He will get unemployment but we will definitely be struggling. So every sale in my shop helps us alot http://www.etsy.com/shop/megscreations

I will be putting a lot more time into all of my ventures. My hubby will be home to help with the kiddos and the house. Therefore leaving me more time to spend at the bakery creating lots of new treats. Megs Creations has really expanded locally. I am so excited about some of the upcoming projects I am working on. In December I am selling my cookies and other goodies at several local Christmas plays. Since hubby is home I have also found more holiday craft shows/fairs to sell at. I will be at 808 main st Vancouver Wa on the 27th, 28th and 29th and in Milwaukee Oregon most of the weekends in December. Which I can take local orders of cookies or mixes now for pick up on those dates.

Also will be working on many new flavors of cookies and mixes. Soon I will be listing more spice mixes. Instead of all the beans and pastas for my soup mixes I will be listing only the actual spice packs for the soups. With lots of new flavors in soup spice packs coming soon. Also many new crock pot meal mixes coming soon.

Well enough of me rambling. Please check back soon for sneak peaks of some new goodies.

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Redoing Pictures Sale

I am once again redoing my pictures. I want to make a listing for each individual mix I offer. In the pictures for these new listings I will have the jar of mix and the final product. Like if its dip mix then there will be a picture of the actual dip all made up and in the same picture will be the jar of dip mix and likewise for all the other mixes. I think if got pictures done for all mixes than I would finally be satisfied with my pictures. Below is what I have now for pictures.Well it's just kind of boring. I think with more dramatic angles and the picture having the final product in it as a prop will be much better. So therefore I am running a sale for all my quart jar mixes. Only $10 with free shipping, (not to be included with any other offer). And my dip mixes and pancake mixes are all $6(dip) and $8(pancake) all with free shipping as well. I will be listing lots of new listings this week with a generic picture like below.

But if you don't see a certain flavor listed at this super great deal of $6-$10 yet. Then just let me know and I can make you a listing. Check out my shop for over 100 flavors then let me know which one you want at this super cheap price and I will make you a listing. http://www.megscreations.etsy.com I want to get as many pictures and new listing done as possible. I will be running this special all this week. Then after that I won't be offering any sales for awhile. So you better jump on this great offer now.

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Balancing Act

Sometimes I feel like I am doing a balancing act. I always have too much going on. Between being a mommy, wife, school and running a business that has so much going on by itself. Sometimes I read other peoples blogs for inspiration. I read about so many work at home moms who seem to have this all balanced perfectly. How do they do it? Time management of course is huge. I really try to stay on a schedule and keep up on my to do lists. Yes plural, I have so many to do lists. It's kind of a joke between me and my husband. He teases me about all the lists. But with so much to do and so little time sometimes it is necessary to keep everything organized with lists.

Lately I find it really hard to keep motivated and stay on my routines. Being a stay at home mom running my own business it can be very easy to let time get away from me. The summer here and so much to do with the kiddos also doesn't make it any easier but oh well. We have done so much this summer, movies, library, parks, playgroups. Having the daycare has always kept us at home. Now that I am not watching kiddos we can come and go this summer.

I have so many ideas right now for the holiday season. I feel like I am in a mad rush to make sure this holiday season goes well. Been working on finalizing my craft show calendar for the rest of the year. So many venues to pick from. Trying to figure out where will be the best for my business can be so overwhelming in itself. Portland/Vancouver area has such a huge community of wonderful artists that naturally we have so many great craft fairs to pick from. I have never done any of the bigger juried craft fairs. Been mainly the schools and church craft fairs so far but I feel like it is time to step it up and go for the bigger juried venues.

Which leads me to needing banners, flyers, new biz cards and those sort of things. Been hard at work with all the promotional and label type stuff for Megs Creations. It's so much to think about. I feel a real branded look to a business is so very important. Which I have almost achieved. With my business being so many different layers (etsy, wholesale, local, catering and craft shows) it can mean a heck of a lot of different labels, tags, flyers, cards, biz cards and such. I have been trying desperately to teach myself some graphics programs but I really have no idea what I am doing or what programs to even look for. Have worked with a couple people for the graphics I have now but not completely satisfied and I need so many more items now. Therefore I have no choice but to try and figure it all out. But this graphics stuff is all way over my head.

Wow I need to stop ranting. I think I have gone on enough about my latest ventures for now. Will be working on many new mixes and cookies this weekend. Hubby has promised to help take photos all Sunday afternoon. So stay tuned for new stuff early next week. I haven't been this excited about new flavors for a long time. Think exotic fruits and many new spice mixes.

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New mixes!

I have been working on many new mixes. I have finalized the recipes. Now to just take pictures. Hopefully by the end of the week I will be listing goji berry muffin mix, new pancake mixes, new dip mixes and so many more.

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It's been awhile.

I haven't blogged in awhile. Not because I don't have anything to write about. I have just been way too busy. I acually have many notebooks full of writing that I need to organize and type and I would have so many blog posts.

Summer months have been super busy with lots of weddings to cater. Dessert/cookie buffets are an awesome way to feed your guests at any wedding. Let me know if you are in the Portland/Vancouver area and would like to discuss Megs Creations catering your wedding. Also have been working on many other ventures for Megs Creations. I am putting together a promotional sampler to take around to many of the local coffee shops, boutiques and resteraunts to try to drum up some more wholesale contracts.

I also have been busy with the kiddos. Regal Cinemas has the free movies each week that we have been going to. Check out if any theaters near you have been participating Family Free Film Festival http://www.regmovies.com/nowshowing/familyfilmfestivalschedule.aspx?state We have also been going to the library and playgroups alot. They were so used to being aroung so many kids from my daycare. Now with the daycare closed I am trying to get them as much interaction with other kiddos that I can.

Anyways I am gonna try to blog more. Hopefully you will be seeing some tips, recipes and many more blog posts coming soon.

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Megs Creations defined

Been struggling lately with where I am going with all this baking and mixes. I love it so much and definitely want to make it into a very successful business. The way things are right now is making me go crazy though. Between my wholesale orders, my local orders, craft shows, my etsy orders and now with wedding season all the catering orders. I love each and every one of these ventures but this has really boomed into more than I can handle. Need to figure out what my focus will be for now and run with that. I have so many great ideas for new recipes and can't get them made fast enough. Been jotting down notes constantly. I have so many ideas for blog posts half written out. I have so many recipes that just need that final testing.

So you can see my dilemma. I am just way overwhelmed and that is not even counting all the other things going on right now. How do you focus? How do you find your motivation? Ultimately how do you decide which would be best for you and your family? How do you let the things you just dont have time for go? Something obviously needs to change. I have an assistant but still I can't get everything done. I have so many passions that I just want to pursue them all but not enough of me to go around.

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Price changes

So I am doing a complete overhaul of my shop. Tomorrow I will be closing my shop for a few hours(10am till about 1 or 2 pst) to change so many things. I will be editing my policies, all my descriptions and lots of photos. My packaging is changing as well. Right now as things are in my shop I am not making anything at all. I have struggled with the decision to raise my prices. I have no other choice if I am going to make this a successful business though. I am not out to make a fortune or anything. I am a licensed and fully insured food processor and not just a little home baker anymore. My prices need to reflect my professional bakery and quality ingredients used.

Right now my jars and cookies are a super bargain. So take advantage because unfortunately the prices will be changed to the below prices by tomorrow afternoon. Go take advantage of some great deals http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5858455

My jars will only be listed in these quantities. I will gladly do custom orders for other quantities but to keep things organized in my shop these will be the listings.
Glass quart jars
Single jars $8 plus $6 shipping
3 jars for $22 plus $13.50 shipping
6 jars for $40 plus $25 shipping

Pint jars
Single jars $6.50 plus $4 shipping
3 jars for $17 plus $9.75 shipping
6 jars for $30 plus $13.50 shipping

My cookies will now be listed in 1 or 2 dozen listing only. I would love to do custom listings for other quantities but I will only be keeping listings of 1 or 2 dozen in my shop.
1 dozen standard size cookies will be $10 plus $7 shipping
1 dozen new cookie mini bites will be $6 plus $4 shipping
2 dozen standard size cookies will be $18 plus $9.75 shipping
2 dozen new cookie mini bites will be $10 plus $7 shipping

There will also be a whole new line of mixes which will get listed tomorrow and wednesday.

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New packaging sneak peak

Here is a sneak peak of my new packaging. Most everything in my shop will now be packaged using these chinese takeout boxes and using the pink and brown polka dot motif. The prices and quantities/sizes will also be changing quite a bit. The mixes will be dramatically changed. Prices for shipping will be so much better. The cookies are now going to be sold at much smaller quantities but packaged like a beautiful present. Will be blogging and officially revealing the new packaging over the weekend.

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Packaging Update

Received my new packaging. There has been a couple issues with size. I am brainstorming different ideas to make the tons of bags and such that I ordered work until I can buy some things that are larger. I believe I have figured out how everything will now be packaged. My whole goal has been to help save on money and lower shipping costs. The glass jars are not profitable for me. Shipping is so high. Actually looking back at the numbers over the last couple months I am not profiting anything.

Friday morning I am going to be changing a lot of things in my shop, including prices. I have struggled along time with the decision of raising my prices. After finalizing my licensing and insurance this last month my overhead went up dramatically. Therefore I have had to brainstorm some new ideas to make things more profitable for me yet still make it desirable enough of a price to encourage sales. My cookies will be packaged differently and listed in different quantities starting friday morning. Also my jars will only be limited to approximately 25 varieties still available in the glass mason jars. I am discontinuing at least 30 flavors of mixes. I think 125 mixes is just too much right now. I also will be packaging differently my mixes. Therefore there will be a whole bunch of changes to my mixes.

The mixes I am discontinuing are:

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate Covered Raisin Cookies
Strawberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies
Orange White Chocolate Chip Cookies
Scottish Shortbread Cookies
Sugar Cookies
Chocolate Pecan Chewies
Chocolate Walnut Cookies
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
Peanut Butter Chip Brownies
Butterscotch Fudge Brownies
Molasses Cookies
Lentil Soup
Black Eyed Pea Soup
Tortilla Soup
Gumbo
Chicken & Rice
Santa Fe
Chicken & rice
Greek Lemon Soup
Cajun Chicken Soup
Maple Muffins
Biscotti Mix
Multigrain Pancake Mix
Gingerbread Pancake Mix

The above listed mixes are $12 total with shipping for a limited time only.

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Wordless Wednesday

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Heartbroken

My grandmother has decided to go back to her house and stay there. There is nothing I can do. We went today to see her. I had been very concerned about her all week. She just sounded awful on the phone but she is so strong and independent. Today was a real scare. She has lost so much weight in such a short time, she can't be more than 100lbs now. The later part of this week she was at home all by herself. Which is my biggest worry right now. Today I wouldn't leave till someone came to be with her. My grandmothers niece, my second cousin, came to stay the night with her. My aunt is going to go tomorrow and stay with her for a while. She demands to stay home. Which I don't really blame her. Who wouldn't want to just stay home in there last days. Especially at the beautiful ocean. But she would be so much closer to most all of her family up here. I just worry about her there all by herself. I am going to do everything in my power to beg all family to just take turns and we can make sure someone is there at all times. I just can't bear the thought of her by herself anymore. Not after what I saw today. This fucking cancer is progressing so quickly now(sorry for the language). It's not the death that I am hurting from. It's what she is going through until then. So much pain, complications and just the stress.

Yesterday my 3 year old asked me if mema(his name for my grandma) is dying? I didn't know what to say. I avoided the question for now. He must have overheard me at some point. Now I am definitely watching what I say around the kids. Not that I haven't been, but now I am being really really careful. Now I am trying to think of how to explain this all to him especially but really both of my kids. How do you explain death and cancer to a 3(4 next month) and 2 year old. My children are extremely intelligent. They are quite close with her and they get that she is sick. Soon I am afraid I am going to have to explain the death part. I am lost at what to say. We are a christian home and believe in heaven but I have never explained any of that to my children. How do you go about explaining death to preschoolers?

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March Madness Comes To An End!

Wow this has been a crazy month indeed. Happy to see it coming to an end and am going to go int o April with a whole new perspective. I have been really moody and gloomy the last week. I am one of those people that can't say no to anything and so I am constantly way too busy. Today was really nice. Spent the whole morning just playing with my kids. Then taught my baking class in the afternoon. Tomorrow I have a lot planned. I am going to finish my spring cleaning list. Been meaning to update everyone on alot of stuff but haven't had a chance but am going to take a moment now.

Grandma update: health wise not much has changed. Which actually is really good. The cancer has spread to her liver, spine and her remaining lung. But she is still doing really well considering. I admire the courage and strength she has.

Daycare/Preschool update: I am still unsure what I want to do about this. Right now I am licensed for daycare but inactive status. I have still been watching my cousins two (1 yo and 2 yo) full time . Also been watching another 2 year old little girl part time. So that's 4 toddlers 1 - 3 years old full time and 5 sometimes. My ideal situation would be to not have any daycare kids here full time but to only do preschool for 6-8 kiddos in the mornings. Right now financially I can't do this. But going from 6-8 toddlers full time to 4-5 has been great. I still have my helper girl coming 10-15 hours a week too. No daycare today and tomorrow which has been a much needed break.

Migraines update: I had almost 2 weeks without a single migraine. Which made me really hopeful that things were under control. But this last week I had 3 migraines and almost every day had at least a dull headache. Waiting on a call back from the hematologists office for results from last weeks appointment. I have a feeling my platelet level is really high again. That means meds change, lots of side effects:( and lots of iron. But hopefully we will at least get down to the bottom of it. I know alot of it is stress but not migraines this often and too this extreme just stress.

Life in general. Have finals at the end of April which means all my papers/projects are due by then. So will be extremely busy with school for a few weeks. Also have tons of church activities planned this whole next month. Wow looking at my planner for April you would think it is a schedule for a small army but just mine, lol.

Etsy/Megs Creations update: Oh I could go on and on here but it is getting late and laptop is dying. Will finish this part in the next few days because I do have tons of things coming up to announce for Megs Creations. But for now I am off to bed.

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New Packaging

I have been experimenting and researching alot lately with new packaging for my mixes. I have my jars listed in glass quart mason jars. Which weighs a ton and costs so much to ship. I have been experimenting with plastic containers, bags and such. The plastic containers really don't weigh all that much less. Or I haven't found any that are that much lighter. Bags seem to be the way to go. I am trying to save a little money to purchase some bakery/food bags from www.uline.com A few weeks ago I got the uline catalog in the mail and have picked so many things out to get when I have a chance. I use styrofoam peanuts right now and just hate it. With going to bags that will eliminate the need for those. For the orders that are still in glass jars I would like to get some of the biodegradable starch peanuts. That would make me feel so much better.

I think I will still offer my mixes in the glass quart jars which are very popular for gifts. The layered look, fabric topper and ribbon make the jars very decorative and pretty. For those just wanting the mix for themselves and are not worried about the "look" I would like to offer a cheaper packaging and shipping alternative to the glass jars. I have found some nice bags but now I have been working on somehow labeling and decorating the bags. What I need to do is get some more graphics made, but again have to wait for more money.

One very exciting thing to announce is that I am now 100% licensed and insured in the state of Washington as a food processor. I have been working on a blog post about the whole food processor licensing experience and process. So stay tuned for that.

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Gift Certificates Today

As part of my March Madness SALE get a $5 gift certificate with all purchases today. Good towards any future purchase in my shop.

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10% Off Sale

Today I am offering 10% off all orders excluding shipping. Please add 10%off in your message to seller and I will refund 10% immediately. As well as all orders over $20 will receive a free jar of snickerdoodle mix.

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Yay it's Friday

My special today is Free jar of Snickerdoodle mix with any order all day! Plus I have hidden 2 Secrets Find word secret and get that listing free. You pay only shipping. Just convo me if you find the word secret hidden in one of my listings.

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Special of the Day

Today I am offering free shipping on each additional item after your first purchase. I am heading over to etsy to change my shipping now. Oh and check out the Chocolate Chip Cookie Cheesecake Bars I made last night.

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March Madness Sale

So todays special is 20% off all orders excluding shipping. Just put in message to seller, march madness and I will refund you 20% immediately. Don't forget I will announce a new sale every morning for the rest of this month. http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5858455

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Wordy Wednesday

I have been struggling for a while to figure out a focus for my blog. I love blogging and the whole idea of getting my words and ideas out is fabulous. My problem is I have way too much to say and not enough time to say any of it. Maybe I need several blogs, lol. This is something I have actually contemplated. Then someone mentioned Squidoo and I need to look into that but haven't had time. Some of the ideas for blogs I have might just work well as lens over there. Sometimes I think of starting a baking blog with just recipes and tips. Which I probably will do soon but the biggest factor stopping me there is: why do I want to give all my recipes away if I am trying to sell these baked goods. So I will probably work more on the technique and tips part. I could fill a whole blog with just the photos and funny mishaps of my baking. For instance I have been trying a new recipe a day for the last month and a half. A few of the recipes come out great the first time but most recipes have to be tweaked quite a bit for my liking. Made pretzels last week and oh wow were they so yummy. Those pretzels were so ugly though, could never have sold any. We ate them all up before I could take a picture though. So thats when it occured to me to starting blogging about these recipes a day and how the recipes are always works in progress. Another blog I have thought of is just blogging about life after a stroke and being a new mom while recovering. Or I could blog about being a small business owner in todays economy, or running a daycare/preschool and early childhood education or just about life in general for me which is quite chaotic in itself. See I have so many ideas floating in my head but not really going anywhere with any of them. I need to just decide and focus on one blog subject and really get going with it. So this blog will more than likely become all about megscreations and my mixes and I will start an all new blog with a specific subject that I am going to really concentrate on. Haha just reread all these ramblings and I sorta find amusement in the fact I just went on and on about needing to blog. Well stay tuned for the unveiling of my new blog soon.

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Luck of the Irish Sale

Today to celebrate St Patricks Day I am offering buy one get one 50% in my shop today. http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5858455 Just put in message to seller BOGO50% and I will refund you 50% of the lesser item imediately.

This sale is also kicking off my March Madness Sales. I will be having a new sale everyday from now through the 31st. I will be listing lost of new things also.

Check back every morning between 7-8 am pst time for each daily sale. Will post the sales here and on my announcement on etsy. Don't miss out on the biggest sales of the year in my shop.

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Clean Monday

Today is the first day of the season of Lent, Clean Monday or Pure Monday. Therefore I am trying to stay busy today with just cleaning the house from top to bottom. Sort of a spring cleaning. I have a huge pile of stuff to go to goodwill later. I just had to take a break for a few so here I am blogging instead of cleaning.

Had a beautiful weekend at the beach with my grandma. It was extremely hard to leave her yesterday. She is all alone by herself down there. She is getting extremely sick and it is very hard for her to take care of herself at this point. Yet on the other hand she is so independent and strong of spirit that she is not wanting help at this point either. She does admit to it being hard to dress herself and cook. So that worries me so much. I am about 3 hours from her so plan on going back down there on Saturday. She is so lonely and has nothing to keep her mind off the cancer and the pain. First reaction is for me to talk her into coming to stay with us and letting me take care of her. But I do have to think of myself and my family. That sounds so selfish of me to say. With the migraines and health issues I have had recently I have to consider me. What good would I be to my kids, grandma or husband if I had another stroke. At the same time I can't bear the thought of her last days being in a nursing home though.

Update on me is I have new medication to try and see if it helps with the migraines. They also said to stay away from stress and to just try to take care of me. Hah that's funny "stay away from stress", how does anyone stay away from stress. I am going to try to not get stressed out and not take so much on but stress just happens:) I have been trying to do WAY more than one person can possibly do. I am a licensed daycare provider and for almost two years have had 6-9 kids here 5 days a week, 10-12 hours a day. Yes with a teenage helper a couple days a week but the daycare alone is more than a full time job. I am also just finishing up my bachelors degree online in business management. Then I ran across etsy this last spring set up a shop with a few cookies and never thought anything of it. When I started preparing my mixes for the holiday craft shows that I do locally each fall. The idea came to me practically in the middle of the night one night to list my mixes on my etsy and see what happens. Well the holiday season on etsy was quite successful for me and I am now addicted and love the whole concept of etsy, lol. I now have two shops, megscreations with my mixes and whimsicaltots with my toddler art stuffs. Then most important of all is my two precious little ones. Having a two and a three year old is a full time job in itself as well.

Before last week I had already begun to come to realization that I could not go on doing so much anymore. Going on 3-4 hours sleep every night was not working at all. I gave notice to all my daycare parents except my cousin. I had planned on starting a preschool in my home right away but I am now putting those plans on hold for now. Maybe this fall but then again maybe not with the busy holiday season coming soon after that.

Considering just doing etsy full time from here on out. I really do believe I can make it into a full time business if I had the time. I have so many great ideas in my head that I never get time to actually create. My wonderful husband asked me this weekend if that is something I would like to do, etsy full time. He said he would be supportive either way. We both admit that losing all daycare/preschool income would be very hard for us financially. He has even offered to help me if I need any help packaging or whatever. I am definitely passionate about baking and my mixes and I think he likes to see me doing something I really enjoy and am excited to tell him all about each evening when he comes home.

So I am giving myself a new challenge. To treat etsy like a full time job and to see for the next month what I can do to grow the business and then make my final decision. At this moment I am inactive with the state of Washington for daycare licensing. I will have to make my decision very soon. I am not watching any kids at this time. So my time is free to spend with my kids and develop my etsy shops. And of course visiting with my grandma as much as possible. Oh and can't forget about finishing school. So I am going to put myself on a schedule and stay to it regarding the etsy so I can see what it would really be like. Wow I have really rambled on and on but it feels good to just get it all out. So now back to my cleaning. I think I will blog tonight or tomorrow about some new ideas for my megscreations mixes. Stay tuned for some great sales and new mixes coming soon! Please order mixes if you want a yummy homemade gourmet treat. I need to keep myself busy!

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MIA

I have been MIA lately. I have been taking care of myself and my family. I had to take a step back and just take a moment away from etsy and all my endeavors there. I have been experiencing some really severe migraines lately. Probably from all the stress. But anyways the doctors have been getting really concerned about it because of the stroke I had 3 years ago. Which I had a migraine for 4 days right before that happened. I have been trying to just take it easy and worry about other things right now.

Like the health of my grandma. She has been battling cancer for awhile now but in late December we got great news that she was in remission. Well remission didn't last too long because on Wednesday she was diagnosed with bone cancer and has tumors several tumors in her arm as well. So there is nothing we can do at this point but be with her and try to keep her comfortable. Please pray for her. She is in so much pain now:(

For those waiting on orders, all orders are out and no worries there (hubby has been awesome with helping me). For those considering ordering, please do. I am at the coast spending the weekend with my grandma but will be back home by monday and ready to fill orders. I have shut the daycare down for a couple weeks to try to get these migraines under control. So I have time to just focus on me, family and Etsy when needed.

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Wow what a day of deals

I am very excited at how many people responded to my blog & tweets about taking offers. Got quite a few sales so will be very busy till late tonight and most of tomorrow. Will be taking pics all morning. Hoping to get some pics as good as this one. Don't mean to toot my own horn but I think my photography is getting so much better. These are some brownies I made the other night. They were so good. Almost didn't even make it to photoing them. Everyone was eating them so fast, lol.

After I get all my orders out and photos posted. I will be working on some new mix ideas. Am super excited to introduce some totally new mixes next week. Check back for more info. Also will still be taking offers on the baked cookies, brownies, biscotti and muffins that I mentioned in my last blog post. I will be offering these through the weekend for this price.

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Taking all offers on my mixes!

Or close to all, just convo me. Feeling very generous so you never know the deal you can get today. I have decided to take all offers for the next 24 hours, cutoff will be 7:00pm western tomorrow(new time:). I need to make all my mixes to rephoto each of them. Rather than making them just to photo then give to family & friends or just eat it all ourselves. I thought maybe I would try taking all offers and see if I could at least make mixes for orders and photo those. I have over 125 mixes listed right now and would like to rephoto all 125. Plus different combinations of these. Plus the actual finished product, ie soup, cookies, brownies and such. This is a huge task but thought if I could get at least get some money it would make it more worth it. Of course the shipping would still be needed but the actual mixes I will give for next to nothing. My mixes are really yummy and super easy. They make great gifts for just about anyone. You only need to add a couple of simple ingredients and follow the easy to follow instructions that are included and you have gourmet goodies.

Also I will be photoing all the actual cookies, brownies, biscotti and muffins among all the other mixes I offer. So I will have so many baked goods around here that I'm afraid I will be 500 pounds if I keep it all, lol. If you are interested in any of my cookies, brownies, biscotti or muffin mixes I have listed but would rather me do all the baking then no problem. I will make any of the cookies for $18 for two dozen thats including shipping. Just take a look through my shop policies for a complete list of choices, http://www.etsy.com/shop_policy.php?user_id=5858455 For the brownies, biscotti and muffins I will sell these in packages of a dozen for $18 and that is also including shipping. Just take a look at the shop policies for a list of these as well.

If you are interested in any of these options, then please just convo me and I will make a custom listing. All orders of baked goods will be shipped priority mail. I will be baking and making mixes all day tomorrow and will ship all orders on friday morning. Thanks and have a great day!

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Just couldn't wait

I just loaded my new banner onto etsy. I Love It. I just couldn't wait. I decided that I probably should just start making all the changes gradually to my shops because I don't know if I will get the time to do it later this week like I had planned. I also was thinking of if I were to change all listing at one time then that would be kind of a waste of money to renew everything all at once that in one day. So if I change things gradually over the next week and renew as I make changes that would make it more worth the fees and get more views.

So we had some beautiful weather here today in the beautiful, rainy Pacific Northwest. I was able to get a little time to photo some mixes and goodies today. Tomorrow is supposed to be another nice day so hoping to get a lot of mixes made in the morning to photo in the afternoon. I made a real nice spot in my office to take all my photos at. I am finally figuring out lighting and the settings on my new camera. Need to get one more lamp though. Will be going to walmart tomorrow for a cheap lamp. I think I am also going to look for a nice, pretty mixing bowl for using as a photo prop.

Since I have decided to start changing pics and descriptions as I get them done. I will still run some sort of sale this weekend after I have changed a lot of the photos and descriptions. I haven't decided exactly what my sale will be though. I will be listing a lot more in both shops this week. I made up a lot of mixes today and took photos. I also made some really yummy peanut butter chip brownies and chocolate chip cookies. Which I also took photos of as well. Did manage to also make about 20 crayons and 2 colors of whimsydough, which I will photo tomorrow. Now I better get going to work on listings and change photos.

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Unveiling the new look

I am really excited for the coming changes. Towards the end of next week I am going to put my shop on vacation for a day. I will be working on each of my listings. I am redoing photos and descriptions. Also will be changing my banner. So a whole new look pretty much, I can't wait. Mainly just sharpening things up a bit. So either Thursday or Friday I will be closed and will reopen with an all new look, YAY.

Then periodically will be listing new goodies. My goal is to get most of my 125 mixes listed individually so people can see a picture and get a description for each and every listing. I am going to be photoing alot more of the finished product to include in my listings also. I have cooked and baked so much lately that my family is getting the whole list of mixes memorized, lol.

Hopefully next week will be also be the Grand Opening of my new shop Whimsical Tots. As a daycare owner I know how special it is to hand a toddler a new fun art or craft supply. So have been experimenting with making crayons, playdough and such for a few years now. I will be listing these in my new shop and can't wait to see that take off.

Will also be blogging alot more now that my time won't be all focused on the daycare. So check back for recipes and craft ideas I will be sharing coming soon.

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"Quitting" my day job!

I'm quitting my day job. No not really but I have decided to completely change my life around alot. I am no longer going to focus so much time and attention with the daycare. I am going to put most of my time and energy into Megs Creations and now my new etsy shop Whimsical Tots. As for the daycare I am going to be changing everything over from a full time daycare to more of a preschool. I have given notice to almost all of my parents. Then I will take a month off to plan and organize everything for more of a preschool setting. I will only have my 2 and my cousins 2 full time now. After I get everything planned and organized then I am going to advertise for a few more kids only 3-4 hours in the mornings for preschool. I am very excited about that and can't wait to focus on nurturing these creative little minds. As for the etsy stuff I will now have much more time to focus on making this a real and legitimate business. I have been working with a graphic designer that is working on a whole new look for both etsy shops. I am giving everything a whole new makeover. We are designing a custom logo that will be on my etsy as well as my blog and I think even my twitter. It's really cute I can't wait till it's all done. I also got a new camera and I am in the process of taking all new pictures. Tomorrow I will be cleaning out the playroom and making that my new office. I bought all new shelves in the living room for all the toys. It is going to be so nice to have an office. Hopefully that will inspire the creative juices. I have so many ideas and plans. Now hopefully with the space to do it all I will stay motivated to create so many new things. I have been researching light boxes and now with the extra room I will be making a more permanent one to perfect the photos. Well I think that is enough rambling for now. I also plan on blogging and social networking alot more:)

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