Today:

• I used a new formula of body scrub this morning to try to combat the ridiculous dry skin that this never-ending winter has made unbearable. It was a Vanilla Coconut Scrub (#5 on the list), that smelled divine and felt incredible on my skin. (I will just go ahead and count that as my Pin of the Week, even though it's been so long since I've done one, we might ought to call it Pin of the Month, or even more appropriate, Pin of the Quarter!)
• During breakfast, Clay asked me what a Binglebob was. When I told him I didn't know, he explained to me, as if I were a special kind of dense, that it is a fish. 
• I sent CC emails this morning, while assisting Max with some of his school work.
• I had an opportunity to leave the house without children for a few hours to attend a class about doTerra essential oils. I have been fascinated with essential oils for a while now and was thrilled to get to do this. I can't wait until my oils arrive and I can try them out!
• I didn't have lunch until 2:00. 
• The landscapers, who are absolutely transforming our property, said there was a chance they might finish the project ahead of schedule, and we could be relaxing on the completed patio within the next week or so!
• I was almost sideswiped by a wild turkey on my way to drop Ruth off at horse riding.
• We picked up Max's t-ball uniform, and he is super excited for his game on Saturday.
• I enjoyed some yummy Mexican food for dinner with the men of the family. Max's comment when we pulled into the parking lot: "You know what is so funny? That this is Mexican food, and it's not even in Mexico!"
• I had a delicious dessert (while everyone else had dinner) in Liberty Hill at the Dahlia Cafe, with Ruth, my mom and my cousin's sweet wife. 
• I left my baby girl with my mom for her first out-of-state trip without me. She and Nana are headed to NYC tomorrow, where they will meet up with Papa and have all kinds of amazing fun, I'm sure!
• The cows knocked our trashes over, which they do every Wednesday evening or Thursday morning, because that's when we take the trashes out for the weekly collection. But this time we outsmarted them with bungee cords. Ha!
• I ordered a tricorn hat for Weston for his half-birthday, because that is something he specifically wishes he owned and who am I to deny that kind of dream?

If It's Not One Thing, It's Another

What I need is a little more stress in my life just now. I mean, here I am with nothing to do, nothing to worry about, really not a care in the world--if only something (or everything) could go wrong, that'd be great! (And if you didn't catch the sarcasm dripping from that non-verbal statement, let me assure you it was full of it)! Today, it was the printer. It died, what sounded like, a truly painful death. But the real pain came when I realized that I have lots of sugar scrub orders to deliver this week and not enough labels to make the products official. Will the fun never end?! Guess I'll be getting cozy at the print shop tomorrow, while I wait for my knight-in-shining-armor to ride up with a new printer and save me from my woes. (He did promise he would try to get me a new printer tomorrow, but then, of course, it has to be installed and I have to figure out how to use it--blah, blah, blah). If I go to bed now, I may just be able to put off another pitfall until tomorrow!

*On a positive note, the leaking jar fiasco seems to have been resolved satisfactorily. Thank goodness for that!

Meet Body Dulce's Newest (And Best) Salesman

The Curves where I work out is hosting a "Member's Bazaar" this week, where they allow members who have something to sell to set up a table and hock their wares. This event does not require you to actually be at your table (or even in the building), but if you want to come up, they don't object as long as you don't hassle the people who are trying to work out. I find it helpful to be there, because when I have a chance to talk to people face-to-face and tell them about the products, they are more apt to buy them. Obviously, if I want to go up during the day, I have to bring my Little Shadow with me. I wasn't at all sure how this would work out, but decided to give it a shot. He has been perfect. He brings his little backpack, filled with entertainment and also really enjoys the music and the attention he gets. This morning, he even got the attention of a couple of ladies looking at items on another table, and pointed to the scrubs on my table and said something that sounded just like "Body Dulce." And, seriously, who could resist a sales pitch coming from this little cutie?! The bazaar is going well, and I think sales will continue to pick up as the week progresses. I think if I keep my very best sales' guy on the job, it's sure to be a success.

Re-work

"To work again."

As in: "Hi. This is the salon carrying your sugar scrubs. Over half of the sampler packs I recently bought from you are leaking oil. Could you come by and take a look at them and see if you think this is normal?"

And: "Oh my goodness! That is definitely NOT normal. I will take them all back and replace them for you."

So everything has now been re-worked. The recipe. The jars. The bags. Everything. I've heard that these kinds of things just happen sometimes when you are starting up a business, but I was completely mortified! Fortunately, the lady was very nice about it, and the problem seems to have been resolved. But I'm exhausted--partly from the stress of it and partly from the re-working itself. See you all back here tomorrow for, hopefully, a less than woe-is-me post!

The Factory Is Open

Jeff calls our kitchen and office "The Factory" on days when I'm busy with my sugar scrubs. Well, today the factory was definitely open, ensconcing the house in the aroma of gingerbread. And in the middle of production I got a phone call to ensure that the factory will remain open at least through tomorrow, when coconut takes center stage. But I have promised myself that, no matter what, the factory will shut down sometime on Wednesday because my in-laws will be here to spend the night, and who wants to sleep in a factory! (Besides, I need to take care of some Thanksgiving/Birthday preparations at some point)! I am just loving this sugar scrub business and am so pleasantly surprised to see how it's taking off.

*The website is functional, by the way, but just. The only thing you can do there right now is place an order. The layout looks nice, though, so if you'd like to take a look it's bodydulce.com. Hopefully, before the end of the year, it will really be like a regular website, with content and pictures and who-knows what else.

Sweet Success

Well, I'm back, and I should now be a bit more consistent with my blogging. My show in Temple went really, really well! I pretty much sold out of everything I took with me, and even had to stay up late last night making more! A store in Waco decided to carry the scrubs, and several other vendors were interested in possibly carrying them in the future or knew someone who they wanted to share my contact info with. Another neat thing was getting to trade products with other vendors. They wanted some scrubs, I wanted some of their things, so it was fun to use the old-fashioned barter system. I learned a lot and made some money and had a great time. I hope I will be able to do something else like this soon, and I hope the contacts I made will continue to serve me well in the future.

I Haven't Slipped Off The Face Of The Earth, I Promise.

So sorry I've been out of touch lately. Nothing's wrong, but thanks to those who have expressed concern. Body Dulce has been in full production mode in the last week, getting ready for this little trade show tomorrow and the next day and filling some big orders as well. I have been up to my elbows in sugar scrub (literally), not to mention all the other stuff that goes along with selling that I never even thought about before. I've pretty much been at it from early morning until late night every day, and by the time it's time to sit down and blog, I usually vote for bed instead. Here are some highlights from this past week:

• Jeff had a birthday.
• We all got to go to an assembly at Ruth's school on Friday where Ruth was recognized, along with other kids from every grade, for her Jaguar Pride Award.
• Weston is doing a great job with the potty. His whole calendar is covered with stars!
• We went to Houston on Saturday for a little overnight trip. We decided to experiment with Weston in a big boy bed. I ended up being his bed partner, and I can say without a doubt that I don't want to do that again any time soon.
• Today is Weston's first day of swim lessons.

I will try to be a little more connected after the trade show is over. I'll be back Wednesday night. Wish me luck!

So Much More To Smile About

• My meeting with the spa went very well today and I got my biggest order, to date. Very exciting stuff!
• I'm told the website could be up by the end of the week.
• We met with Ruth's teacher yesterday afternoon, and she couldn't say enough nice things about Ruth. She was encouraging Ruth to pursue more challenges on her own and was also promising us that she would do everything she could to ensure that Ruth continues to be challenged at school. She was also suggesting some special projects for Ruth to do at school like some extra research with a couple of other kids for their focus on Korea next month and entering something in the science fair in January.
• I had a wonderful opportunity to visit with a good friend of mine yesterday.
• We haven't had to run the air conditioner all week because the weather has been so lovely.
• Mangia pizza for dinner.
• Going to bed earlier tonight than last night.

A Body Dulce Facelift

My Body Dulce products are wonderful for the body. They give just the right amount of exfoliation and moisturizing. And my confidence and creativity have also soared since creating the product. I have been so encouraged by the great response I've had to the product and the business. But today, Body Dulce did something for my face. It put a big ol' smile there all day.

First, I got a call from the salon in Temple that can say they were the first to carry the product. The lady just wanted to inform me that she had sold 5 out of the 6 jars I put in her shop just two weeks ago and that she'd like to have 10 more! And further, she wanted to know, "What would you like for me to do with all this money?" She also had a wonderful suggestion for me, which I immediately took to heart and have already applied (in rough-draft form). I will be perfecting it in the next couple of weeks, as I prepare for a "trade show" in Temple.

Then, this afternoon, I took the kids in for a haircut, and in the course of conversation, I found out that the lady cutting the kids' hair was the owner of the shop. I took the opportunity to talk to her about my scrubs, and she agreed to let me bring in some samples and business cards to set out. I am hopeful that that will generate some more business.

Tomorrow, I will meet with the owner of a spa here in Austin to see about getting my scrubs in her shop as well.

I also got my business cards and gift tags ordered this week, and the website is well on it's way to becoming official. I'm so excited about all these opportunities, and I'm amazed at how quickly this dream is turning into reality.

Almost Official

There have been some pretty exciting things going on with Body Dulce lately, and it's starting to feel almost official--which is sort of weird because it's just some idea I had a few months ago. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, Jeff and I met with a designer to talk about labels and overall marketing appeal, to basically make the product appear more professional. He got back to us with his first round of ideas today, and there were some things I really liked. So much there that was just beyond my brain to come up with! Also, I made contact with someone who works at a salon this week--(Thanks, Linda!)--who is interested in the scrubs, and there may be some potential to sell them in her shop. And, the pedicurist who works there is also going to try them out as a part of her pedicure routine, so that's really cool! In the meantime, I have had a steady stream of orders--still mostly from family members, but, hey, that works for me! This whole adventure is just so fun! I'm so thankful for the opportunity to pursue this, and I'm thankful to all the people who have encouraged me and helped me along the way. I still have a ways to go, but it's good to be going in this direction. Hopefully, sometime after my web guy gets back from his Vegas Vacation, we'll be able to get the site up and functional. I'll keep you posted as we progress. In the meantime, if you find yourself in need of a little pampering for yourself or a gift for someone else, you can contact me directly. (wink, wink).

Where Idea Meets Reality

Earlier this summer, I came up with a little business idea, which I've kind of been gnawing on. It's homemade, all-natural sugar scrubs, and the name I came up with is Body Dulce. Over the weekend, I gave out the first samples of the product to family members. I also got my first few orders (also from family members), and now I'm trying to kick this little business into high gear. I'm no where near official, but I'm having fun, and I'm definitley busy. I'll keep you posted as things develop.

Pampered

I got in on a little spa treatment tonight at Curves. Everyone who participated got to enjoy a mini-facial and forearm massage, along with a few moments of relaxation, a lip mask and silky balm, refreshing eye pads and some nice foot lotion. Then, when I got home, Jeff and I experimented with some homemade brown sugar scrub on our hands. Jeff didn't particularly enjoy the kitchen spa treatment, but I loved it. My face and hands just feel so smooth and wonderful now. Makes me want to pamper myself a little more often.

Sugar Body Scrub

Sometimes you just need a spa day. And sometimes you neither have the money nor the time for such a treat. So, I decided to make my own sugar body scrub, so that I could have an opportunity for a little pampering. It was super easy and used things I had here in the house. Plus, it made me feel pretty! If anyone else wants to try it, you can check it out here. There are also several other scrubs listed on the site and lots of other homemade cosmestics and pampering agents. Go on, you deserve it!