New Adventures Pt. 2

My new opportunity is with a direct sales clothing company called LuLaRoe.  I was introduced to it through a friend at church.  She's been selling it for about a year and has had a lot of success, but that is not really why, or how, I got involved.  I first got interested because the clothes are so cute AND comfortable.  They also fit pretty much everyone, with women's sizes from XXS-3XL. The sizes are generous too.  They also have kids clothes sized 2T-14. Both the girls and I love it!

Leggings with an Irma tunic.

DotDotSmile Dress

Amelia dress (with hidden pockets)

After the initial interest in the clothes themselves, I started looking more at the company and was even more impressed.  I love the loving, giving culture of the company.  There is no competition between consultants because everyone has different stuff in their inventory. (At least, that's the idea. I have seen some consultants online that don't seem to share the vision of the company very well.)  Another thing that appealed to me was that the parties, called Pop-up Boutiques, are low-key. There's no sales pitch or catalog. You come, shop, hang out with your girlfriends, and take home what you buy.  Being that I've proven I'm no sales person in the past, this sounded pretty good.

Nicole dress

Enough facts about the business, let's talk about my story.  As I mentioned in the last post, I really want to be able to ease some of our financial stresses.  I've looked at (and tried) different at-home, party-based businesses and none of them really suited me.  LuLaRoe seems unique, though, and really caught my attention.  I started kicking around the idea of signing up, but hesitated to talk to Ben about it because there's a pretty big starting investment.  It just kept going around inside my head, so finally at the end of March/beginning of April, I mentioned it to him.  He jumped right on board and said that if I was serious about working it, we could use next year's tax return to get started.  I was thrilled!  As the next couple of days went by I kept feeling a sense of urgency.  The company is growing so fast that they made a waiting list (the Queue) so that they wouldn't end up with more consultants than they could supply inventory for.  I talked to Ben again, and we decided we should go ahead and get my name in the Queue. I wasn't sure how we were going to manage it, but it felt right. So, I prayed about it. A day or two later I got a "pre-approved" credit card offer from our bank and applied, not really believing they'd give me enough to make any difference.  Within minutes, I'd been approved for enough to cover all of my start-up costs!  So...on April 13 I sent in my paperwork.  I'm still waiting to be made official ("onboarded"), but I've used that time to finish my schooling (yes, past tense!!!) and work out a business plan for myself.  I should start selling in July and would love any support you all can give me, whether by buying something or by sending good thoughts and prayers my way.

New Adventures Pt. 1

For years I've been telling myself that I need to get some schooling done.  When Ben and I got married and moved to Houston, I was only 2 classes away from getting my Associates.  The plan was to finish my degree there once I met residency requirements.  Plans changed...babies came...we both wanted me to stay home. Then we became an Air Force family...we moved...another baby...another move...another baby...2 more moves.  You get the idea!

So, now the kids are all in school and we are (most likely) not going to be moving for a while.  I had to face the fact that MY education had been put on the back burner long enough.  The idea of going back to a traditional college environment didn't appeal to me though.  Luckily I found another option. In February I started an Administrative Assistant program through Penn Foster.  It's a career diploma program that is completely online and self-paced.  The idea was to try to get on with the school district as a school secretary so that my hours would allow me to be at home when the kids are (for the most part anyway).  When I told the kids I was starting school, Garret said "but I don't want you to work. I want you to be home with us."  The thing is, I want to be home with them too.  I also want to be able to be able to say "no" less often.  No to after school activities.  Not right now to requests for shoes, clothes, family outings.  I want more room in our budget for "extras".  Honestly, I also want something for me.  I LOVE being Mom! Sometimes, though, I miss just being Cindy. I don't know if that makes sense, or if it makes me sound selfish, but it's the truth. 

Okay, back from that tangent...I've been working on my program for 4 months and I should be done THIS FRIDAY! FRI-YAY!!! I will not, however, be applying for any Administrative Assistant jobs any time soon.  A couple months ago I found another opportunity that I am SO excited about!!!

To be continued...

Flip-flops in a Rainstorm

A couple of weeks ago I attended a women's conference at my church.  The theme was "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain".  The thought of dancing in the rain makes me smile...it brings to mind images of childhood and fun.  The conference was great and my only disappointment was that I wasn't able to go to more of the mini-classes they offered.  I think that we probably all need a little help in learning how to stay positive in difficult, or negative, times. But I'll get back to that later.

Last Saturday, while on a campout with the boys, Ben had to replace a belt and the radiator in the Jeep on the beach!  It was definitely an unexpected expense.  Luckily, he had some very helpful men with him and we only had to pay for parts, not labor. (Although, I probably owe them all some cookies.)  He got the Jeep home, but there are still issues and it is parked in the garage for the time being. This means that he has to use the Toyota, which would not normally be an issue since I'm home all day.  Except it's been raining all week, Ben has physical therapy twice a week, we've been fighting a stomach bug off and on for almost two weeks, and Alex had to have lab work done (fasting, early morning lab work).  There has been a lot of driving back and forth! I'm frazzled and have found myself shutting down, not wanting to do anything once Ben and the kids are out the door.  This morning as I was running the kids into school late, I made a comment about wearing flip-flops in a rainstorm.  Then it struck me how well that sums up my current feelings about life. 

Ben didn't care for the thought when I shared it with him. He pointed out that our life isn't really THAT bad right now, and it's not. That's not quite what I meant.  What I meant is that I don't currently feel properly equipped to deal with my life (or what's happening IN my life, to be more accurate).  But, we equip ourselves.  I chose to wear those flip-flops when I knew that it was raining.  I have shoes, but it was faster and easier to just slip on the flip-flops.  We were running late.  I didn't want to get my tennis shoes wet. These are excuses; I had a choice to make and I made it.

So, back to the conference and the dancing in the rain.  It's currently raining on our house (literally and figuratively).  This is not a bad storm we're weathering...we've been through worse.  Others have been, or are going through, MUCH worse.  My thought is...How often do we simply grumble about the rain instead of equipping ourselves to face it?  There is no "storm" that can't be weathered by relying on our faith.  We have a Savior who has felt each and every one of our pains and heartaches. He knows what we're going through and He wants to help us!  By using the equipment we've been given, namely prayer and the scriptures, we can be comforted during the worst.