Oh How A Little Time Make a Big Difference - Pampered Chef

I haven't written on this blog in two years.  That is WAY too long and we have SO much to catch up on!   Ler's start with Pampered  Chef.  

In 2014 I wrote about my Pampered  Chef Experience at that point.  I was a hobby consultant doing 6-8 parties a year.  For each party, I had to coordinate with my hubby's schedule with his two jobs to make sure he was off, and so the kid was taken care of.  After another two years of this, I was done.  I told my director I was going to quit. And the most amazing thing happened.  She told me NO.  What!?!?  I know.  She told me to talk to my friends and family and see what they thought.  Everyone I talked to said, "Why would you quit?  You like this."  So I decided to give it another try.

So I decided to do another party at my house.  I spread the word, invited my friends, cleaned the house, bought some food, and we had a great time as always.  This time at the end of the party a friend said she wanted to host a party, but her apartment was too small and run down.  I told her about the virtual parties I had just her of, and she was all for it.  I got THREE bookings from her party and my first potential recruit!  I was so excited, but couldn't get any of my friends to host a virtual party, so after two months I gave up and hosted my own virtual party!  I had two bookings in the first two days and two more potential recruits!  

The next month I had the highest sales of all of the consultants on my Executive Director's team with over $5K in sales on my own. I had two team members and three months later I qualified as a Director with Pampered Chef.  My team grew a bit more and we were having fun.   But I got comfortable and stopped recruiting.  So my team started struggling, we are building things back up and I am looking forward to a long career with Pampered Chef.  My Executive Director recently told me that when she went through this stage she was told when you make director, you have a $5K/month team, then your next goal is to be a $10K/month team, then $15K and so on.  I like this and need to recruit a bit more to help make these goals be a bit easier for us to hit.  Around December we added 2 new team members, then added 4 more between April and June.  We aren't stopping here.  

Would you like to know what I like best?  Do you think it's the boxes of new products directors get twice a year? That is a good one, but no there is something better.  Is it that I get paid to play on Facebook?  Nope, that is pretty sweet too, but there is something even better.  Are you ready?  It is the shift in my thinking.  Thanks to the many interactions, training, and books I have read I am a MUCH more positive person.  I run my own business, but I am not on my own, I am part of a team.  My teammates are the most amazing people I have met.  They truly help and encourage one another.  We recognize we all have individual strengths and struggles and help one another!  It is a completely positive environment.  I am getting ready to head to the Pampered Chef National Conference in about two weeks and I am looking forward to it because I know I will come back renewed for my business and my life.  

I still work full time in addition to my Pampered Chef business.  I love setting goals and tracking numbers, and I get that with this business. My goal for the fall is to book 10-12 parties per month (a far cry from where I started).  It's a stretch for me, but I have done it before, and I can do it again.  

I plan to get this blog up and going full steam again, as always, food, family, friends and crafts will be my focus.  You will get to see some Pampered Chef products and recipes and I am letting you know up front that I do make a commission on any purchases you make where you use my link and indicate I am your consultant.  I only share the products I love and products that make my life easier.  I am not looking to make significant sales from the site, but if you want to purchase I want to help you.  When you purchase from me it's different than buying something at Target or Walmart.  I am going to reach out and see if you like the product, and see if you need tips or recipes.  I am here for you.

If you made it this far thank you!  It has been a while and I am excited to write again!

Up-cycled projects for classroom

This is my new view every day as I enter my room.  This shelf is made from an old, odd tv stand. I painted it white and used wood from our old gate as the back and sides.  It's never looked better.  

I bought the picture frames from my favorite Front Porch Finds, painted them and added chicken wire.

The clock is from target and my J is from Hobby Lobby, and has recently needed a new home. 

The little table at the corner was honey colored until I stained and painted it.  And it was a free table my hubby picked up from the curb.

The frame is another curb find and I added plywood (already in my garage) and painted the plywood with chalkboard paint.  

The two benches/shelves are completely new builds. $11 per crate & $12 for the wood for each one. I still want to put casters on each one.

More up-cycled frames with paint and chicken wire a new IKEA paper holder, and a bulletin board I found got I had. 

I wasn't wanting to use the wire shelving, but don't have a replacement yet.

New find

Robert found this today.  My plan is to tighten it, clean it, stain it and seal it!  Stay tuned for my progress.

Staining concrete floors

So you want to rip up you carpet and stain your floors - no problem.  I did it.  I thought "yep, I just buy the kit at Home Depot, then rip up the carpet and tack boards, fill holes, and tape up plastic the first day, etch and stain the second day and seal it the third day ... Then the hard part waiting 72 hours to put your furniture back in place."  I was delusional!  Let me tell you what it's really like.

We went to Home Depot and bought the kit.  I had researched online and made a list of what I thought I would need and was prepared to spend extra money on those items.  I bought gloves, boots, plastic sheets, blue tape, broom, vinyl filler for the holes, putty knives, and even an extra can or concrete stain. All in all I spent about $100 more than the kit. And I was borrowing a shop vac.

If you are ripping up carpet by yourself, you aren't doing crap else that day.  The good news is that it is very satisfying, and the sound of the hammer hitting the pry bar is a sound you get used to fairly quickly.  

The bad news can vary.  It took me a long time because I was pulling up tack boards as I went so I didn't have to worry about Xman's little feet. You need a trash can to hold the tack boards as you pull them up.  Also, you need to call your waste people in advance to have them haul off the carpet, and they have requirements about how big pieces can be.  And the worst news might be what you find under your carpet.  Most of the living room looked like I expected: a little carpet glue and a little paint/stain, the hall way was completely painted and the entry way had about 2 1/2 feet of thin set for no reason with more carpet glue than everywhere else in the house combined.

Hopefully you have an army of minions and you can still roll through this no problem.  If you are on your own you may need to embrace the process and take your time.

Okay so the carpet is up. Now the hole repair.  This part was a little more complex than I thought but not bad.  I read the directions on the containers. I thought it was pre-mixed - it wasn't, so that added another step. I used my gardening pad to kneel on and save my knees.  I mixed the filler in a plastic cup and used a plastic spoon to mix and later to fill the holes.  According to my instructions I wet the holes, vacuumed out the holes, added filler and scraped them level.  I also used a target bag to contain what I scraped up.

I also taped ... and taped ... and taped.  I taped the bottom of the base boards using my putty knife to stick the tape to the underside of the baseboard.  Does this seem odd?  I don't really want to replace all my baseboards, so I was trying to protect them, hopefully I did, but I am a little worried about how much liquid we used. Once I taped the bottom of the baseboards I took 9' x 12' sheets of plastic and cut them and taped the. To the baseboards and up the walls.  My hubby had to help me some with this by holding the plastic up while I taped.  I thought of Dexter a lot during this process.

Then I thought I was finally done with prep.  And the etcher seemed like a two person job, but the hubby and the family were busy so I was fortunate enough to enlist a friend to help me - what a lifesaver!  

I mixed the concentrate and we poured and worked on spreading it around with a broom.  Problems: it says not to let it dry - it dries quickly.  The lines where we poured were visible and we didn't seem to have enough.  The paint and construction mess wasn't coming up.

Then we tried to rinse the floors and the plan was to use the shop vac to suck up the water, but it wouldn't suck the water up.  So I became frustrated.  I sent my friend home, took the kid to Home Depot to come up with a new plan and then gave myself a time out (to work through the process) with my sister-in-law.  

At this point I was 5 days in, and losing hope.  I thought I read that the etcher would take up the construction mess, and maybe it will if you don't have much of a mess.  If you have a mess you need to go back to Home Depot or Lowes.  

So my hubby came home, we talked though the process and he went to the store.  

He came back with a new shop at (that sucks up water like a champ),  a mop bucket with a wringer, new mop, and cleaning solutions.

After days of scrubbing and scraping here are my suggestions.

The best tools for removing paint are Krud Kutter, a putty knife, a scrub brush and towels.  Pour on the Krud Kutter, scrap the knife, scrub then wipe, move to the next section, repeat.

To remove carpet glue: pour boiling water in a small section, let it sit and start scraping.  I scraped the glue dry to remove some I think this o my made my job harder, if it's thicker sometimes you can get underneath the paint and it's a little easier to make more progress.

For the adhesive from the laminate floors of the kitchen and bathrooms I used Goof Off -- worked like a charm!  I was also able to get a little of the thin set off with the Goof Off, but it is stinky!  Open a window.

So finally we were ready to try etching again.  I had a lot more this time, it still dried, but we did better.  And this time I poured a spot the. We we would spread it around and pour another spot and even used a random pattern. Waited more than 10 minutes and scrubbed (we had to add some water to the dry spots).  

The we flooded a section of floor, vacuumed it up, and poured more water on it and vacuumed agin.  We let it dry and the. It was still a bit chalky so I mopped two more times and finally a week and a day from the time a started I was ready to add color.

So I added the base color.  I probably went too light.  The color was very orange and I was worried about adding too much and figured I could always add more later.  

I let it dry and opened the accent color - dark brown!  I was so excited and used every drop of that color.  

Once it dried the hubby and I walked it to see if we really wanted to add the black/grey.  We decided to add it. 

I started spraying it and noticed it looked a little blue, and it was thick.  It wasn't drying as fast as the other colors, and it seemed to be bubbling up. When I looked at the container I realized the other two were dye and the third was stain. So we left and I started worrying.  And I went to Home Depot to buy rags to try to wipe up the black.  But by the time I got back the bubbling up was no longer visible and the floors looked amazing.  The black even his several of our problems areas.

Tomorrow I stain and then we have to stay off of it for 24 hours.  Then a few days later I can move the furniture back in and try to get my life back in order!

Craft Night #2: drawing mandalas

Craft night number two was much more successful than our kick off night.  While there was some hesitance, drawing mandalas is easy, and there is not dry time.  

Xman drew a picture and write a welcome note (about as close as we have gotten to home work).  

There were no supplies to bring because I already had a ton of pens and paper.

I lightly sketched templates onto papers the night before.  I had actually planned on going over the pencil with sharpie and everyone would leave with a template, but I simply didn't make it that far.  

We all started drawing together.  To draw a mandala you start in the center then add layers of petals and leaves and designs or patterns within them.

I tend do only use black pens and figure I can make copies to color if I want to..  And I like to use different thicknesses of lines by going back over the lines and making sure lines meet and don't cross by thickening lines as needed.

Everyone did a great job but I really need a bigger table or we need lap desks so we can spread out into the living room.

We also had lots of yummy food and lots of laughs.  And everyone walked away with beautiful mandalas.

When will I learn?

Ever wondered if your vacuum is strong enough to suck up a phone cord?

Mine is ...

Craft Night #1: Screen Printing

As a quest to be more creative, learn new crafts, and most importantly create opportunities to be social, we decided on having a weekly craft night.  Last night was the first night, and we set the bar high with screen printing which no one had ever attempted.

I got the idea from Calico Skies, and it seemed easy enough.  Take panty hose and an embroidery hoop, draw your design fill white space with Modge Podge, let it dry, scrape paint across.

Where it all went wrong: we didn't get the nylon taut enough, so when we pulled the paint across the design moved.  The only other thing that might have caused problems is not getting a thick enough layer of modge podge. 

Despite the fail, we had a great time.  My 5 year old told us to turn the laughter down.  We also had lots of tasty treats.

Chonte' made Pesto Pasta Salad, I made salsa and jalapeño-cilantro dip, I bought chicken salad, Jamie brought pinwheels, and Jill brought cake and scones.

I had a blast and I am lucky to have such great friends.

Video Games with a 5 Year Old ...

Xman has mastered a few video games.  Yesterday he became obsessed with creating new characters on the wii (miis). I think we have 30 characters.

Many of these characters have grey eyebrows and freckles...

Here are some of the names:

Ryokzx (Chelsea)

Xecvgyoknm

Rf 

Bvdfgnnhjm

Sxa

Ipokxczat

Fgy 

Rtxzag 

Nugwaazcfv

Hey Mom, what does this spell?"

"I blame his father :)

Funny Blogs I Read

Looking for something funny to read while I am slacking?  My favorite blog has been Love, Teach for a while now.  She tells the funny stories we all have, and I want to be her friend ... not in a creepy way, but I think she should sit by me at lunch.  Check out a few of my favorite posts 19 Things That Happen When You're a Teacher, Whisper Turtleneck and Things I Said Aloud Today: DEVOLSON Edition.

I found another education blog: Gatsby in LA.  I like this, some is funny, it is very true, my favorites so far are Why do Teachers Obsess That They Are Not Good Enough and here.

My sister-in-law texted me tonight with a new blog Sugar Free Ear Candy.  This is a mommy blog instead of a teaching blog.  She is so funny!  I have liked all the posts I have read, but 20 Good Reasons to Judge Me  inspires me.  You may see a post like this soon.

Kale Chips

Kale Chips?  Yes, Kale Chips!!

I have not eaten much kale.  I bought more than I needed for the detox salad and thought I would try kale chips.  I used a recipe I found via Advocare (we will be starting the Advocare 24 Day Challenge soon).

kale
salt & pepper
parchment paper (this is important)

Wash and dry kale.
Tear kale off of stems and into bite-able pieces.
In a bowl mix kale leaves with as little olive oil as it take to partially coat leaves - you can always add more, it's hard to take it away - mix and mix and mix - if you have a Pampered Chef Kitchen Spritzer it would help this process a lot!
And salt and pepper and mix some more.
Place kale on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper - don't overlap the leaves.
Bake at 375 7-10 minutes - watch them closely so they don't burn.

It took me about 5 sheets of leaves to finish 2/3 of a bundle of kale.  I just alternated between 2 parchment lined sheets.

The bowl at the top is most of a bundle of kale - is shrinks a lot. But is delicious!

Pesto Chicken

Chicken is my go to meal.  You can bet every week we are going to have chicken.  But with making it so often we get bored, so I have added another chicken dish to our rotation: Pesto Chicken.  (I have a couple of pesto chicken options, this one if the healthiest and easiest of my dishes.)

First I like to slice my chicken breasts in half, so they are half as thick as a hey were originally.  I have three reasons for this:

1) it gives you more seasoning per bite

2) the chicken cooks faster

3) it results in a more appropriate single portion.

2 chicken breasts, split in half (4 pieces)

2 T pesto

Place the chicken in a freezer bag.

Add 2 T pesto to the bag.

Mush it around (very technical term)

Make sure the bag is sealed and throw in the the fridge for a little while (up to 1 day).

I have made this on an electric griddle and in a ceramic skillet.  I preheated both, but neither needed and oil, butter or cooking spray - trust me there is enough oil in the pesto.  Whichever choice you make, cook chicken thoroughly. (I leave it on the first side a while to get good color on it.)

Enjoy.  

Detox Salad

Robert said this tasted healthy, he added a little maple syrup ... gross.

2 broccoli crowns, cut into florets
1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
4 carrots,cut into large chunks
1 small bunch of kale, stems removed
1/2 c parsley
1/2 c sunflower seeds
1/2 c almonds, chopped
1 c  craisins (or dried cherries or dried blueberries)
juice of 1 lemon
2 T rice vinegar (other other mild vinegar)
2 T honey (the original called for maple syrup, but ... no)
salt and pepper to taste

Put broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, kale and parsley into the food processor - this will take multiple batches.
Mix up all ingredients. Eat.  Yummy.

Be Happier!

I have posted before about a very entertaining TED Talk  by Shawn Anchor called The Happy Secret to Better Work.  And based on that I have created a document to try to to stick with these ideas for 21 days.



Download and print the document and join be to try to have a more positive outlook in 2015.

In case you want to watch the video here it is again.

Stories from the dinner table

Family time at Christmas, including long car rides and all the stories that go along with this craziness make me want to start recording the stories I hear and the stories I tell.

I hope you heard a lot of good stories, and I hope you share them.

Fall wreath

I really needed some therapy ... I mean craft time.  So I finally made some time for crafts yesterday.  At the beginning of the school year, I bought a package of fall-colored card stock at Michael's (for about $3) with the intention of making this wreath.  So Friday night I started making flowers (like we did for Chelsea's wedding). 

First cut a circle (it doesn't have to be perfect). Then cut a spiral within the circle, again, perfection is not required.  Then start wrapping the paper into a cone from the OUTSIDE working toward the center - this seems odd, but the center will be the base you glue your flower to.  I usually unwind the flower some, add a lot of hot glue, press your flower down, burn your fingers, remind yourself that hot glue is hot. 

   

Admire you work, repeat, repeat, repeat.

Then Saturday, Xman and I ventured out to Michael's again.  This time I needed more hot glue (project took 10-15 glue sticks total - best guess), and something to glue my flowers to ... what I ended up with was more than $50 worth of other projects ... I need supervision.

So I found these wood bases.  I purchased two of this size and one larger one for a snowflake wreath (I will post that one right after Thanksgiving -- I like to let turkeys have their day.)  First hold it up by your face ... then act like it is a hula hoop for your neck ...

 

I glued the biggest flowers on first,  trying to create a random effect. 

Then I glued on the next flowers, then smaller, then smaller, then I had to make some ultra tiny flowers to fill in a couple of spaces.

I am very happy with this project.  I have enough paper to make probably 10 more wreaths this size. I like making all the flowers first and then gluing them on and just filling in as needed.  I will be making another one for my classroom ... but I should probably do my lesson plans and notes first, and maybe clean house.  When I hang this up I will add an update.

Gearing up to craft and cook!!

I am so ready for Thanksgiving Break!!!!  I keep pinning Thanksgiving and Christmas crafts and foods.  This picture makes me a little too happy ....

This is from the Pampered Chef site.  I want to make the melted snowmen (made with the scoop loop) and the brownie houses (uses 2 brownies from brownie pan) ...

I also want to make this Turkey Shirt from artsy-fartsy mama for Xman...

I am hoping to make Cranberry Pepper Jelly Dip from Life With the Crust Cut Off.  It's pepper jelly mixed with half a can of cranberry jelly, poured over cream cheese and served with crackers.  (My link isn't working at the moment - I will update the link as soon as I can get it working)

I also love these ornaments from By Stephanie Lynn

I would love to have this ribbon wreath from Dear Emmeline...

This is only a start to what I want to accomplish .. if only I had more than 3 days off!  I will take what I can get, and try to make the most of it ... maybe I could catch up on sleep also ... dare to dream ...

I just can't clean this place ...

Have you heard "I'm all about that bass?"   Of course you have, but I will add it so you can watch it again.

Just typing it the song is stuck in my head again ... It have been singing it for a week, or a parody version of it.  Have you seen the moms parody "I just can't clean this place". 

I saw this Monday morning, sang it all day, showed it to my husband and he said "obviously" and gestured to our lovely home ... Immediately my horns are showing and I say "seriously?"  And he said "I didn't mean you, we just can't clean this place."  

It's like shoveling the driveway in a blizzard ...

I need an army of minions ...

Disclaimer: I share this story because it was hilarious to me.  And because I wanted to watch both of the videos again ... I just can't clean this place ...

Baked Tacos

This is one of my favorite quick dinners.  I found this somewhere on pinterest originally - thanks for the idea BlogChef! (I cheat and use seasoning out of a packet.)

Hard shell Tacos

Ground beef or turkey

Your favorite taco seasoning (I use Old El Paso original taco seasoning)

Cheese

Toppings of your choice

Brown meat. Season to your liking.

Place unbaked shells in casserole pan or ridged baker.

Top with cheese

Bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Top as you wish.

Baking tacos like this is tastier, faster, and less messy (the shells don’t break as easily)

*I was lining a glass baking dish in foil to help fold the shells up until I saw that I could use my ridged baker. If I am making too many to fit in the ridged baker I will use my stoneware rectangular baker from now on because of how easily the cheese comes off of the stoneware.

I also use my Mix 'n Chop to make browning ground meat an easier job - one of my favorite tools

I need an army of minions ...

I have decided today I need an army of minions.  What would they do?   Well, let me tell you!

I need one team at home to complete all the house work that I just can't get around to ... including house work, organizing the garage, craft projects I have started, running to the errands (more on this later), and tending to the yard/garden.  

Then I need one team at school.  I need a team to complete all the projects that I think up (but don't have time to create), the paperwork from the office, making posters, keeping up with the concept wall, keeping my desk cleared off .... (oh if only) .... the make-up assignments, the lab prep, the lab clean-up, creating/updating presentations and lessons, updating my website and social media for classes, contacting parents, and grading ... I can't forget the grading!

Wow.  I feel better just thinking of handing off these activities to someone else.

Okay, lets get back to that running errands.   I think that there is a huge market for service (and maybe money), for errand runners.  I would love to have the time and resources to coordinate students (high school and college) and house wives/stay at home moms to help others.  There are so many times where you can't or don't want to leave the house and need errands.  Whether it is because you are sick, have a sleeping baby, already have things on the stove, or you already put your pajama pants on ... there would be so many times I have thought "I wonder if the pizza boy would mind running by the store ..."

What would you need from my army of minions?

My Pampered Chef Experience ... so far

August 2013 I jumped into the role of Pampered Chef consultant.  I had several motivating factors.  Money is always tight., I love the products, and I like parties.  A friend had a party and the consultant wasn't pushy or over the top, he was real, and I thought, well if I don't have to be pushy, I might be able to do this.  I went to the party knowing I could spend $20-40, and there were so many products I wanted.  One of the products I wanted most was the manual food processor ... and it was out of my price range ($50).

I am a teacher and I teach swim lessons in the summer for extra money.  It was the end of the summer, and I had been saving up money for two things: I wanted a Nike Fuel Band ($150) and the Advocare 24-Day Challenge ($150).  I did the 24-Day Challenge later and used $170 (with tax) to buy the biggest start-up kit ($500 value), because it had the manual food processor and a lot of other items I wanted.  

The way I saw it the only risk, is that I was "stuck" with all of the items I wanted anyway.  

I saw this on pinterest the other day it didn't have a good link to cite.  I am definitely a hobby consultant.  I make $50-$200/party.  I book or host 6-8 parties a year.  I have fun, but it doesn't consume my life.  I also think of this as my back up plan.  I know it is possible to make this a full time job if the want or need ever arises.  But when I added this to my plate I wasn't looking for a new path, just a little extra cash.   

I am currently a part of a huge direct sales holiday Facebook party.  There are two direct sales people per week and we are pooling our contacts.  It sounded like a great idea to me, my week is coming up soon and I am so excited about it. I have found so many new ideas, including an online party game.

I may start putting some of those ideas on this blog to help me keep track of/easily share these with my party people!   

I would love to hear from other consultants or anyone interested in pampered chef products or opportunities.