Moving things around.

I've had my store at Cafepress for several years and it has been a mutually profitable enterprise for them and for me, however, this month, they've decided to cut profits of all their shop owners dramatically and so I'm in the process of moving all my inventory over to a different site, Printfection.  It's going to take a while but hopefully this will also be a profitable site.  I'm so angry at Cafepress, I could spit nails.  June is usually one of my better months, because of Father's day.  Yesterday, I made quite a few sales, which would have been about 50.00 on the old system, but was approximately 15.00 on the new pricing system that they have.  This follows them changing their bonus schedule a few months ago, which was a hit, but not as bad as this one.  It's very frustrating to have to do this. 

The contrast between last year and this year.

Last year, my youngest son wasn't reading much. He could sound out words and read a bit, but it was a very slow process. Last year at the homeschool book swap/sale in May, I bought a bunch of books on learning disabilities. This year, he's reading chapter books, finishing one every 2-3 days. What dramatic thing did we do? We just gave him some space. He and I worked on the illustrated sight words a little and did a little bit of All About Spelling, but really, I think he just needed some time. He certainly gets reading for pleasure modeled to him in this house! We are all readers now!. The funny thing is, since then, I've gotten involved in a yahoo group called Homeschooling Creatively, which is actually about learning differences, which I've come to realize are not necessarily disabilities, just differences. I believe now that is is normal for some kids, usually boys but not always, to start reading at 9, 10 or even 11 and I think if you can just wait it out a bit, it will resolve on its own in most cases. The trouble is, it's hard to know if your child is one of the 'most cases" or if he truly has a disability. I've lost a little sleep over that. I worried that reading would never click for him. Thank goodness, it finally did and the joy of reading is something that he will have forever.

Oh well.

It looks like I'm going to have to clean and organize my house myself. I guess that's what summer break is for. Sigh. When does school start up again? Actually, that's up to me, isn't it? We'll probably start at around the same time as the public schools do, because it's easier to keep up with that way. Before we start back, though, I really want to get some of these projects done around the house, clean and organize the homeschool shelves. I'll also need to spend some time poring over the Rainbow Resource catalog and planning curriculum for next year. There was one thing we didn't get finished this year and that was the Novel Way curriculum. Turns out, it's difficult to write a novel. Who knew? We did fine with the characters, the settings, etc. but when it came time to actually sit down and write, we lost our momentum. Maybe next year.

No takers.

No one wants to house swap with me?  Let me see if I can write an ad to make it sound more attractive.

ATTENTION NEAT FREAKS  - House swap available.  Idyllic wooded setting, 3 bedroom, 2 bath brick house with previously made mess for you to straighten out.  Imagine the feeling of accomplishment you will feel, after you've put this house in order, redecorated it, stained the deck and painted the kitchen.  Love carpentry work?  The owner will give you carte blanche to build in some cabinets, closets or bookshelves.  As an added bonus, the owners, their 3 children, 3 dogs and 3 cats will come to your house and make a wonderful mess for you to clean there.  So really, you'll get 2 weeks of fun for the price of one (which is free other than your transportation!)  What a great deal!  Don't let this opportunity pass you by!

Today, we need to actually get something done.

Our weekend was very low key (read lazy) and we didn't get a lot done. I did work some on both of my new accounts, planted some more tomatoes because I never plant enough, worked on the calendar for the website for our big homeschool group and worked on my store a little bit, but other than that, not too much. Today, hopefully, I will be able to get in gear, rally the troops and get something done. I have a ton of home improvement /cleaning/ organization things I want to get done this summer. Actually, I'd like to go on an extended vacation and have someone else clean and organize my house while I'm gone ... hey, maybe I could do a house-swap thingy with a really neat, very organized person who just loves to put things in order for others - someone who would actually enjoy putting my mess to rights.

Anyone interested?

Homeschool Links

I've updated my homeschool links blog lately with some interesting things. Even if you don't homeschool, there are some cool things you could do this summer with your kids. Check it out. Homeschool-Links

It's that time of year!

It's the time of year when I promote my store a little bit for Father's day.  I've been working on some new designs.  Here's one of them. 

It's available at my grandparent gifts store.  

What to do today?

I'm not scheduled to work today but I probably should. I'm way behind because of the new accounts, etc. This kind of thing reminds me why I ventured out last fall to try an hourly paid job ... I might need to spend a few minutes meditating on why I quit.

OM. No flexibility. BREATHE DEEPLY. Time away from the family (which sometimes is a good thing!) OM. Not getting things done around here. RELAX. Public bathrooms. OM. The uncomfortable desk/chair combo. The aching arms and shoulders. DEEP SLOW BREATH. Having to type EVERY. SINGLE. WORD. Horribly inefficient spell check. AAAH.

Okay, I'm better now. I really do prefer working at home and this is just a temporary setback. I'm also thinking about writing a book about how to do medical transcription for some kind of internet self-publishing site and possibly teaching some classes or tutoring in MT.

I had all these plans to work on painting the kitchen and get the house in order this summer, but it seems like I'm going to have to focus most of my time on earning my paycheck.