Thursday, December 29, 2011

Not much new

It has been awhile since I posted anything, so figured I better got on it so you know that I am still kickin'!

We really haven't been doing too much of anything too exciting.

Clif has been clearing out the shed to make a place for my van so it doesn't need to sit outside. My van has ALWAYS had a garage!! He is still figuring out his fancy surround sound system and big tv. Clif was in the attic today stringing the speaker wires to they aren't all over the walls and ceilings.

I have been getting back into my transcription course. Today, I finished course #4. Course #5, my last course, should be here tomorrow. Clif was helping me with some words I couldn't understand and he found a website that is really awesome and has helped me ALOT!! My plan is to complete the course before I come back to MN the end of May!!

We had a very quiet Christmas this year. I made a turkey, dressing and potatoes for us. I plan on making a turkey and dressing casserole with what is left, we'll get at least two meals out of that.

We have been getting movies from the library and usually watch a movie each night after the 10 p.m. news. We don't go to bed until 1 a.m. I usually roll out of bed around 10. Clif has the wood stove cleaned and fired up by then.

We have had a great winter..so far! We had a little snow, but nothing to talk about. It rained last night, so our snow is gone. There is snow on the mountains that I see out of my living room windows. I can handle these winters!! Hope yours is just as nice.

I'm sure Clif and I will be sitting at home watching movies and having some wine for New Years.

I hope you all have a very safe and Happy New Year!!

Monday, December 5, 2011

Expo news, new blog

Last Thursday, my friend that sells Arbonne and I went to the assisted living center and served the ladies lunch. They loved us being there!  They loved all the samples they had and even ordered some product. They all loved the wild rice soup and the vidalia onion dressing on their salads. My friend  gave them facials and put make-up on them. Her husband gave them foot scrubs.


Saturday, Clif and I drove to Browning to do an expo in the Elementary Gym. We got up around 5am and left at 6:45. It took us about 90 minutes to get there. We ran into snow, but the roads were fine. The expo was really slow! They even had some vendors that didn't show up. If it weren't for a couple of vendors, I wouldn't have sold much. I got 1 booking, 2 possible fundraisers and a potential consultant. I was serving wild rice soup. We were really tired at the end of the day. We stopped to get a Papa Murphy's pizza for supper.


Clif said I should have a Blog about expos, so I am starting one...Montana Expos. I am just getting it started, so give me some time to get it going. I also have one for facebook.


Today, we delivered more flyers for my upcoming expo around town, Whitefish and Columbia Falls. We stopped at a laundry mat to hang a poster and Clif found a gal's name that sells Scentsy. The gal I know that sells Scentsy wasn't able to be there and couldn't find anyone to take her place, so I was happy to find someone. I called her, and she was very excited to be able to do the expo!  I am up to 14 vendors, still waiting to hear back from some. People here just aren't in any big hurry for anything!!  SO different from MN. My expo is this Sunday, the 11th!!


We had a little snow the other night, but the ground is still pretty brown. It seems very strange NOT to have snow in December. I'm okay with no snow.


Tomorrow, we may attempt to put the new tv on the wall. Clif ordered a surround sound system for it and that was delivered today.

Stay warm.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Time flies by

I can't believe I have been in Montana for a month already, where has the time gone? Time REALLY does fly when you're having FUN!!

Clif and I had a nice Thanksgiving, just the two of us. I made a 16.5 lb turkey, dressing, gravy, green bean casserole and pumpkin pie cheesecake. We are still eating the turkey. I have made a couple turkey/dressing casseroles.

We did go shopping on Black Friday, but not until the afternoon. I was looking at a new phone and Clif was looking at a flat screen tv!  We went back to Best Buy on Saturday after we did some researching on the items we were looking at. I got a HTC Thunderbolt smart phone for FREE with a 2-year contract. Clif bought a 55" Samsung smart tv!!  This was a HUGE step for him. He had a 25" console tv that got some stations and another tv on top of that, that got other stations!  You must be a redneck if....!! ha ha. We did get 5 channels, now we get 10!! We are still seeing if we can get cable to the house.  Here is the way we used to watch tv and now with the new tv. We are going to hang it on the wall once we get our tv mount. Don't look too closely at the striped wall...yikes!!  Can you see why I can hardly wait to paint??  Steph, I'll need your help!!!



Today, I went to a chiropractor and had an adjustment on my neck, back and wrist. I have bone spurs in my neck and they have been giving me some pain and stiffness lately. I was very nervous about getting my neck adjusted, but it didn't hurt at all. He also told me that my mid spine was a little out of line. I have some carpal tunnel too, so my arm and hand gets numb and tingles every so often, so he cracked that too! They did a full spine scan to make sure I don't have anymore HOT spots. I have an appointment next Monday to go over that and to see if I need more treatments.

Tomorrow night I am having my first freezer meal workshop. I have 5 gals coming for sure. Hopefully the weather cooperates. It is raining now, but we are suppose to get 2-4 inches of snow tomorrow too.

Thursday, a friend  (Maureen) of mine that sells Arbonne and I are going to an assisted living center in Whitefish. We are going to serve them lunch (with Tastefully Simple products, of course). She gives them facials. They are very excited for us to come. Maureen used to go there with someone else that used to sell TS, so they were excited that TS is back in the area.

Saturday, Clif and I are driving to Browning, MT, which is about 90 minutes from here for an expo. I get to do a freezer meal demo. We have to leave home about 6:30am. Hope the weather is good for that too. We have to go to the East side of the mountains.

Stay warm.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Expo and more

I figured I better write some more, since some of you have been going to Clif's BLOG. He is ALOT more wordy that I am.

Saturday the 12th, I did the Women's expo at the fairgrounds. Last year they had 1600 in attendance and were expecting more this year. I told Clif he had to come with me incase I got busy! It was a pretty steady day and VERY eventful! I got 2 bookings, a couple interested in starting the business and about 30 interested in coming to my Freezer Meal Workshop in January!! I sold about half of what I started with a took a few orders. Some took my catalog and were going to call me with an order. Alot hadn't heard of TS, while others were glad to see it is back!!  I am the only one (that I know of) that is selling in the valley. The closest consultant to me, is at least an hour away!  I'm good with that!!
Here is what my display looked like before I started selling. I cleaned up some of the paperwork before the expo started. I think I can fit everything I have left onto one of my shelves.



The gal next to me, told me about a community center that can be rented out for events. I was pretty excited about that. It is a little more than a mile away from me. I told her that I love to organize events. She was glad to hear that since she doesn't, but likes to be a vendor at them.

It snowed here yesterday, not alot, but enough to cover the ground. It is really cold here, so I am staying inside as much as possible and making Clif put another log on the fire!!

We are going to get a turkey and the fixings for our Thanksgiving dinner. This will be the first year in I don't know how long, that I wont have to spend Thanksgiving alone!!  What a great feeling!!

We may even go shopping on Black Friday to look at cameras and flat screen tvs.  Clif is talking about getting cable!! WOOHOO!! Right now, we get maybe 5 channels. We don't spend too much time watching tv, after all, 5 channels???  What could be on?   I miss watching HGTV and TLC!!

Clif made an apple pie tonight while I was making supper, so our house smells REALLY good!!

Everyone have a great Thanksgiving and don't eat too much!!  If you are going shopping on Friday, be careful out there! There are alot of crazy people maybe wanting the same thing you want.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Getting settled

Thought I would share the truck packing and mess of boxes in the house when we unloaded the u-haul on October 28. Clif and my Dad did the packing of the 16' truck. As you can see, it was FULL!


Here are the piles of boxes in kitchen and living room!!
Another view of living room and the second bedroom. There is a bed under the pile.
A couple more views of the bedroom.

We had our first snow, November 5. It didn't stay very long. There are mountains behind the clouds in the distance. This is our front yard. We have a very long driveway.


Saturday night, Clif and I went to a contra dance. He had to pull me on the floor. I was good just watching everyone. Just not my kind of dance I guess. There were lots of  little kids who had no idea what they were suppose to do. We were there for 3 hours! There was a group of teens that gave a demonstration of swing dance and Lindy Hop. They were fun to watch. My shoulder and ankles were sore on Sunday. Too much dancing I guess.  Clif was enjoying himself too much! He even danced with a lady when I was done dancing.

Sunday I had an open house with 7 other vendors. I sold a few things and a couple more signed up to be at my Freezer meal workshop on November 30. I had fun talking with all the other vendors and customers that have never heard of Tastefully Simple. I am the only consultant in the Flathead County.
The nearest consultant is at least an hour away. I'm loving that!! I have 7 events this month..so far!

This is my normal routine when I get up in the morning. Sweats, slippers, fleece jacket, hot chocolate and standing in front of the wood stove to get warm. Clif likes to heat mostly with wood.
Like the RED shag carpet??? We'll be getting rid of that!!!


Yesterday, Clif and I went to an auction. It started at 2:30. They had alot of stuff. I spotted a table and chairs that would be perfect for us. It has 6 chairs and a leaf for when we get company. Clif asked me how high of price we should go on it. I had no idea. We left the auction for awhile since it was going to be awhile before they got to it. We went to find out how much it would be worth. We found one similar to it on Amazon for $474, we got it for $75!! I was SO excited!!!  The auctioneer started the bidding at $200, then went to $100, no one was bidding on it. He went to $75, then Clif finally put his ticket up to bid. I was getting nervous since he wasn't bidding. We didn't get home until 8pm. Here it is. The lamp and chandelier were not included with the table, which is a good thing.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Moved to Montana

Hello. I am going to try blogging to keep you all updated with what I am doing here in Montana.

I got here October 27. Clif and I unpacked the uhaul truck on Friday. We had boxes everywhere!!  We are still finding places for all of my things in Clif's small 2 bdrm house.

I did an expo with my Tastefully Simple business on Saturday at a local furniture store here. I did pretty well. Lots of people are interested in making freezer meals. I got 2 bookings and a gal is going to start the business with me. We also returned the uhaul before my expo.

I was invited to a couple networking meetings, so, of course I went to them.

Today, we re-arranged the kitchen. Clif had alot of cupboards filled with useless stuff! I even made room for more counter space!

More unpacking tomorrow. We will be having a sale in the Spring to sell our duplicated items.

I can also hardly wait until I can start painting every room in the house along with some remodeling!!