Diane's Diary-ah

Wanted to write a few things in here so I can try to keep it active.   Woke up to below 30 degrees outside. Ick!  I am ready for Spring.  On Friday the temperatures back in PA were higher than they were here.  Guess I'll have to move to Ecuador (on the equator) to get warm and stay that way.  But then my blood may thin out too much and I'll be one of those old people that wears sweaters in 85 degree weather to keep the chill off my shoulders.

I came into the living room to do my Sunday exercises and hub noticed the mailbox gone, not broken but GONE. Someone pulled off the entire mailbox (left the wood it stands on).  So he went driving around the neighborhood to see if we were targeted or it was random.  He did find another house around the bend also missing theirs, with their mail strewn about the street.  I was glad it wasn't JUST us, but now we need to replace it.  Hub is going to call a stone guy he knows to see about getting a stone one built so it can't happen again. Most of the neighbor's mailboxes  are made of stone and so they didn't have theirs disturbed at all. 

It is a shame that stuff happens around here.  It is a nice area but we've had things taken off vehicles, someone tried to steal hub's truck within a month of getting it, and now this.  Never had this sort of thing happen back in PA, so I just don't get it.  Guess this area just has more stuff happen.  It is a shame, because it just reinforces hub's reasons for not wanting to move here.

We're staying here for now, but perhaps when the last one is done college, we'll move somewhere else.  I'm not interested in going back anywhere near or in the snow belt but I'm not adverse to moving to say Arizona or Florida.  We'll see.

Work is still steady thankfully!  Every time I turn around there is some other expense coming up. One that I don't have to pay for is getting my car fixed from the lady who backed up into my parked car right before Christmas. My poor car is scheduled to go in for repairs on Wednesday. Hopefully it will look as good as new like when I first got it.

Off to go do some work, not a ton this weekend but took some on since tomorow the office is 'closed'.

Oh I almost forgot, I put up a website for the store.  It is at http://www.woodstockoflibertyhill.com

»4:30 AM    »1 comments     »Send entry    

Posted by: DianeStJames    in: My entries

Modified on January 20, 2008 at 4:30 AM

Taking a short break from working to write in here.  I don't have a ton of work this weekend but I purposely did that so that I can work on cleaning up the other half of my office and working on some webstuff.  Trying to build a website for our store Wood Stock.  The left side of my office looks GREAT, dusted, swept, things tossed that I'll never read, shelves more empty than full...the right side, thick with dust, shelves need sorting and I've got a lot of filing to do, whenever I get a chance.  I tend to keep all the paid bills and file them at some point but I guess it isn't required to do that.  I just do for record purposes.  But like I said have months worth (probably 6-8 mos).  Well hey, we ALL have those things that we just hate to do, right?

Well I've been trying to promote my online businesses more 'this year'.  I updated my website Diane St James  to include all my businesses, but I'm also getting makeup samplers to give out and ordered a bunch of lia sophia catalogs to send out as mompackfillers (for other women to hand out in bags they may be giving away at functions). I need to promote things more or just forget them.  That's all there is to it.  I even took a slot on Wednesday night for an online party but I noticed something. EVERY single one of us vendors offered a % off if someone bought from them.  I offered 10% off my mineral makeup but no one took me up on it.  But what irks me is that it is pretty much EXPECTED for one to offer a discount all the time and I don't like that.  As it is some of these businesses only pay out 20-25% in commissions and if you start giving 10-15% off you may end up make only $2.00 on a sale or less depending on what it is...and quite frankly that isn't worth it to me.  So...I'm going to keep plugging away and also trying to build up a downline in my businesses because at least you get a piece of your downline (depending..).  I say depending because with Lia Sophia I would have to sell I think it is $1500/month to earn anything from my downline, and I'm lucky if I meet the bare minimum to stay active!  I won't do home shows, so it is harder for me. But I can take website sales and like I said bought a ton of the new catalogs to get out there. I bought 3 cases which is 300 of them!  I'm going to put the expense under Wood Stock for supplies and things I mail because I don't want to end up with a bunch of little schedule cs....and Wood Stock is able to sell anything I represent per the owner (me), so I'm going to keep it easy for tax purposes. 

Hub and I are actually going out to dinner with another couple~!  I hope I get along well with the wife, because we are trying to get some friends that we can do things with once in a while.  There are a few other couples that we've all agreed we need to get together with so hopefully that will happen more this year.  I don't need to go out much but once in a while is nice.  I don't think we went anywhere last year with another couple that wasn't family.  Too bad our neighborhood isn't more friendy.  Folks say hi and sometimes chat, but that's the extent of it. 

Although the winters here are not at all like back East, I am ready for Spring.  I just like the smell of outdoors and the warm breeze coming in the office window here and I miss it.  It has been closed and has cobwebs all inside it and the only air reaching in the office is from the cold garage or the heater (when I have the door shut). 

We're looking at getting a new computer or two and Dani also needs a laptop, but I'm trying to get some $$ saved before doing that.  This 4th qtr income tax is going to take all I got including some of the paycheck I am waiting for.  Sure hope my job keeps going!!! ...

Wood Stock had a GREAT December and sales for the year were triple from last year.  January is going slowly so far, but the fact that '07 was better than '06 by that much and 2006 was our first year, it is really encouraging.  Hopefully it will continue to flourish!

Bye for now. 

»11:53 AM    »Write comment     »Send entry    

Posted by: DianeStJames    in: My entries

Modified on January 12, 2008 at 11:54 AM