That's a first!

We have our Christmas Tree put up and decorated - and it's still technically November! We put up our tree on Sunday afternoon; our very first Christmas tree of our own! We figured that now that we have Julie, time to put up our own tree! And since we're leaving for Florida on the 25th, I thought we should put our tree up early so we can enjoy it! This morning, I wrapped most of our presents and put them under the tree. We only have 2 more presents to buy (I know what to get, we just have to go out and get them). Other than those 2, all our other presents are wrapped and under the tree. I am thrilled since I hate the crowds in the stores, so we don't have to do any last-minute shopping this year - yay!

I had a lovely birthday weekend. Crop Day on Saturday went very well. We had some last-minute add-ons, so we ended up with 12 of us in total, so we had enough to cover all our costs and a little extra... so yay! Everyone who came really enjoyed themselves and wanted to know when the next one is. So, I'll likely do another one in the early spring and hopefully get some more people out.

We bought our dishwasher yesterday and we are having it installed this week - likely on Wednesday. I can't wait! I am so pumped about having a dishwasher; it will be the first time I've had one since living with my parents!

Julie had her 9-month check up yesterday. She is now 30" long and weighs 18.5 pounds, so she is on the 95th percentile for length for her age and 50th for weight. She's in perfect health and my doctor thinks she'll be reading at 3 since she's so alert.

This weekend, we'll be making a purchase that I am SUPER excited about! We're getting a dishwasher! The dishwasher that matches our new fridge and stove is on sale this weekend only for $100 off, so we thought we'd jump on that chance. So, hopefully we can get it installed soon and say goodbye to washing everything by hand - yay!

I've had one more person sign up for CropDay (they saw my ad on Kijiji), so now I only need 1 or 2 more people to sign up to break even. I still have 3 or 4 solid maybes, So I'm hoping a couple of those people come! Should be a great day!

EDIT (1:44pm)

That person that had signed up for Crop Day just cancelled - what a bummer! I was really hoping to get at least 1 new person out! Sheesh!

EDIT (9:33pm)

I just had another 2 people sign up, so I am really close to breaking even now - yay!

Feelin a little discouraged...

I am co-hosting a Crop Day (scrapbooking) in a couple weeks with my leader. We decided to do this to increase our client base. We rented a hall and advertized in the newspaper, on kijiji, put posters up around town, through facebook, and sent invites to all our personal contacts. After ALL that, we only have 6 people signed up (2 of which are my mom and Oma). VERY disappointing. I just joined a local Business Network and went to a networking meeting last week to try to make some new contacts. There was certainly lots of interest, but nobody signed up for my event. I also joined a local mom's group, and have posted my event there. So, it's certainly not for lack of trying! I don't know what else I could have done!

I am just really disappointed because we need another 2 people to sign up to break even. The space we rented can hold 26 people, so we still have 20 spaces left! So, I am really discouraged. At least 7 or 8 people have told me that they would really like to come, but can't make that particular day and would like to know if I run it again. I'm thinking maybe next time, I'll have one at my mom's house so it won't cost me anything. We'd be limited to 8 people or so, but at least I wouldn't have to pay for a hall rental if not many people show. And I could reduce the cost to people that way too.

I am disappointed that I didn't get a single phone call from all the advertising we did. I guess in hindsight, it's probably not a good time of year for people, but I thought people might like to work on Christmas gifts or cards.

I just wish people would give it a chance. Because the products are absolutely amazing and there is something for every level of creativity. There are really simply albums where everything is included (papers, photo mats, stickers, etc.), so no thinking required. There are even albums where all you do is slide in your photos! I just need to find a way to get it across that you don't need to be creative to do scrapbooking. There is even digital scrapbooking for those who don't have a lot of printed photos, but have lots on their computer. This is a great way to get your photos from your computer to being enjoyed; also make great gifts for people. I just created my first digital scrapbook and had 5 copies printed for Christmas gifts... made shopping really easy!

I just realized that when I go back to work in mid-January, I will have a total of 4 part-time jobs - yikes! I will have my regular job 3 days a week (24 hours a week), my Creative Memories business, looking after Oma 2 evenings a week (8 hours a week), and my marking job for the local university, which is 44 hours per semester (works out to ~4 hours a week). So, when you add all that up, I will be working at least 40 hours a week! But, only 1 of those jobs means being away from Julie, so I'm happy about that.

WOOHOO!

My Dad's passport came in the mail today! I was at my parents house when it was delivered and mom and I were totally floored that it arrived exactly a week after we mailed that paper we were waiting months for! We thought it would take 4 - 6 weeks to get his passport.

The Austrian Embassy was really on the ball! We thought they were waiting for the Citizenship record search before they sent the application to Austria, but they must have sent it back in August when Dad applied and then when we sent the Citizenship record paper, they sent us the passport right away. Amazing! So, Dad is coming on the trip for sure now! We still have to apply for the Permanent Resident card, but apparently as long as we can prove we have applied, that will be good enough for getting across the border. But, with 6.5 weeks until the trip, that may be enough time to get his PR card, especially since we can have it rushed since we have proof of travel plans. YAY! I am so glad he can come! He totally deserves a vacation!!!

Julie is 9 months old now, I can't believe it! She is 30 inches long, so she is the length of an 18 month old! Gonna be a tall girl!

I LOVE my new software. I can create scrapbooks, calendars, cards, etc. I have been working on a scrapbook since they are on sale 25% off this month (so my 20 page scrapbook will cost me $15 to have it printed). All these pages are pre-designed, so I just drag and drop photos and write some text - the rest is done for me! SO EASY! I'm going to have a whole scrapbook printed, but this is my favourite page so far: