Creative Memories Consultant

You are now reading the blog of a brand spanking new Creative Memories consultant. Yep, I took the leap and I should be getting my kit by sometime next Tuesday or Wednesday. The lady that signed me up was nice enough to give me the items that were included in the kit that she had readily available. I will pay her back when my kit arrives. I couldn't wait to get it so she gave me about half of the items. I also purchased from her, at my discount, the oval cutter which is awesome.

See, last weekend when I went to Michaels, I purchased a Fiskars cutting system. Paid $30 for it only to discover when I tried to use it the darn thing didn't work. The round cutter worked like a charm but the oval one skipped and moved the picture and cut it all crooked. I have over 16 years worth of pictures that need to be organized and put in a scrapbook.

There is one thing I don't like about this CM thing. The lady kept telling me I have to call and schedule classes with my friends and family. I frankly told her I was in this to have fun, to get my product at a discount and not to make money. She makes a living out of this. I already have too much on my plate with homeschooling, 2 kids that like it when I feed them, an ornery parrot that likes to be tended to and two cats that think they rule.

She has called me or emailed me several times to see if I'm calling my "list of potential customers". I don't like that. I will tolerate it until my kit comes in and I replace the items she gave me. This is not to say I won't hold a crop if the opportunity should arise but I'm not marketing it. I do not take kindly to pushy salespeople.

Creative Memories does have a quota of $500 retail every quarter. That's about $350 plus tax & shipping my cost. That's fine because when I went to Michaels I easily spent $100 and it was for a very small amount of items, including the useless Fiskars cutting set.

Today, I'm off to Joanns. I want some pretty embellishments. Also, some pretty paper and a tote to put the paper in.

Oh, the agony!

First of all, I want to apologize to my two or three readers that come on here every day to read my insane babblings about my boring every day life. I did not post yesterday because this is what happened.

I was making my usual Friday errands which included stopping by Sams to pick up a few things. Mainly, the Lipton Green Tea my teenager-type offspring cannot live without. Due to lack of sleep from the cough that's been keeping me up at night, I figured I'd just go to the one closest to me. I know, I'm smart. I went, I shopped and I was in line to pay. It never happened. I stood there in line for what seemed like an eternity because the one last item would not scan. The computerized cash register kept reading "Can't make the sell". At first I found it extremely annoying that the powers that be in charge of entering this information are grammatically lacking. Hello...it's "SALE" not "Sell", hay, Dios mio...these foolish people!

The thought that I am a good Christian woman flashed through my ever impatient mind. I did not say what I was thinking. I waited and waited and... well you get the picture. While the 'supervisor' is calling out over the loudspeaker to one of the stockers to check on the item in question. He did, she entered the UPC#. Again, the item could not sell. I'm thinking what in tarnation is going on. They have hundreds of these cases back there and in the endcap how can they not make the sale? Again, the supervisor person announces over the loudspeaker, in Spanish no less, that it's not working. I look at the line behind me and apologize for holding up the line. They politely smile and tell me it's ok. Of course I know it isn't.

Supervisor calls "manager" after spending 15 minutes arguing back and forth with the stocker person, over the loudspeaker and in Spanish all the while. I'm embarrassed and would've left if the friggin' item had not been the very item I was there for...the ever disappearing Green Tea!! Manager dude scans the item, as if it hasn't been done a thousand times already. As if it's a newly discovered feature that the seemingly incompetent supervisor cannot figure out on her own. He turns around and says, "We can't sell it to you" I said,"Can you not override that and put in the price?" Manager said he couldn't. I asked for my card back and told them to keep their groceries. I walked out. It was TEA for crying out loud!

I then proceeded to go to the other Sams repeated everything minus the string cheese; I don't need the calories anyway. Went and ordered a pizza to bring home for lunch. Paid for everything and walked out. Tea was scanned without a problem, the miracle!! Walked out to my car and unloaded groceries. Turned to pick up pizza, cart tried to run off in the direction of a new car parked next to me; I panicked. In order to keep it from hitting the pretty, shiny, new car I turned dropped the pizza back into the cart and somehow caught it before it hit and I twisted my ankle and fell in the process. Now, I am the not so happy camper with a sprained ankle.

This morning it's a nice shade of purple. I did save the pizza. And the pretty car next to us. I was hoping someone would feel sorry for me and come to my rescue when I landed like a startled cow that has just been tipped over by a wild bunch of teenagers. It didn't happen. I looked around but nobody was around to help. That's what I get for going to the store that early in the morning on a weekday. I do that to avoid the crowds. I did.

Today I'm sitting at home like a good mommy. I will scrapbook after I eat my turkey pot pie. It's Marie Callenders, they are good. I deserve it. I'm a woman in pain. All because of tea.

Alpha Omega's SOS Curriculum

Well, this week we have started the Switched on Schoolhouse curriculum with little Princess and she absolutely loves it. It is all computer based with the option of printing if you so choose. I cannot say enough good things about it. It really gets my daughter thinking and figuring out the answers.

I think we've found a winner in this curriculum and we will keep using it. I wish I had tried this last year. Live and learn, I guess. Never before have I seen her so enthusiastic about doing her schoolwork. It's amazing really.

Well...it's tomorrow!!

I'm sitting here waiting for Mr. Sir to get home from work so I can go to the Lady CM's to check out the scrapbooking stuff. I'm antsy. I'm excited.

Last night I was watching The Big Idea and saw how this couple started a multi-million dollar empire with only a few hundred dollars. I wonder if my enchiladas would pull that. I've always been told they are really good - it's the secret ingredient, I know it is. Although the host of the show, Donny Deutsch, says if we have an idea to do it now; well, I'm scared.

Now, you are probably thinking how good can those enchiladas be. Well, one of my ex-bosses, who just happens to be a millionaire himself and can eat wherever he well chooses, prefers my enchiladas. He likes them so much that one year for his birthday I gave him an enchilada voucher. It was good for two 9x13 pans of my homemade chicken enchiladas. He cashed them in for Christmas dinner. So, on Christmas eve that year I found myself making enchiladas.

Everybody that has ever eaten them raves about how good, meaty and moist they are. I do put a lot of chicken breast meat in them. And at the risk of sounding like a braggart, I must admit, they are muy deliciosas! Now, if I can only figure out a way to make them where they will stay fresh and great tasting for longer than a couple days. Flash freezing? Whatever that means. Hey, maybe I'm onto something here.

Which makes me wonder...what would I call my enchilada business? Hmmm, how about El Skipito Bandito's Chicken Enchiladas, or maybe Lady Di's to Die for Enchiladas...or even Arriba, Arriba Enchiladas. Maybe I'll just call myself The Whole Enchilada! I only use the breast meat, Sargento brand cheese and a few other "choice" ingredients. I like top quality stuff. Not some el cheapo off-brand ingredients. After all, what kind of gourmet enchilada maker would I be? Hee hee.

Write me and tell me what your thoughts are. Who knows, maybe someday you can say you had a hand at naming the multi-million dollar enchilada brand. Have you tried those disgusting frozen ones from El Charito and Banquet...even the Stouffers brand, they are disgusting.

I have a date tomorrow!!

With the Creative Memories consultant. She, luckily, doesn't live too far from me. I want to see what goodies she has. If their line is good I will sign up. I've checked pricing and between the local scrapbook suppliers and Creative Memories, it would be to my advantage to sign up. I will get a 30% discount all the time. Their minimum isn't bad and I already saw how quickly I can spend 100 bucks at Michaels on scrapbooking supplies....very few pieces for that money too. That's with a discount.

So tomorrow, my little princess and I will go to this lady's house. I am so excited, as is my little princess. It will be neat to see this woman's "store" since she pretty much has everything that Creative Memories has ever had. She's been doing this for the past 16 years! I don't know that I could do anything for that period of time. Amazing!

We are really looking forward to the crop we're going to on the 14th. That should be lots of fun. We're a wild partying pair, me and my daughter. Staying out 'til all hours of the night--the crop isn't over until midnight. I figure we can scoot on out of there early if little princess can't hang. On second thought, it might be me that can't hang. LOL!

Wholesale Scrapbooking Supplies

I went to Michael's today. Although I stayed within my spending limit, it wasn't easy. A few years ago I signed up with Creative Memories because I wanted to purchase their items at a discount to do some scrapbooking. Two years later the supplies were untouched and my ever-growing stack of pictures was still growing. I was working full-time so I figured I wouldn't have time to do any kind of scrapbooking for a while. I sold the 500 kit on ebay for like 300 bucks or so.

Now, I'm looking for wholesale suppliers. If I can get my supplies in bulk from a wholesaler, I'm doing it. I contacted a local Creative Memories consultant and she told me even after signing up with them my discount would be a mere 30% off retail. I would also have to purchase at least $500 in retail every three months. That comes out to $350 my cost which is approximately $120 per month or thereabouts.

I'm going to a crop in a couple weeks to see what all this will be like. I'm taking my daughter with me. She's excited, I'm apprehensive about signing up as I'm thinking I might be able to get a better deal elsewhere. Granted, Creative Memories has good quality products but I want to explore all my options before I take the leap should I decide to do that.

So, for the next two weeks, I'm doing my research. I'm determined to find a better deal, if it's out there. I'm not so sure where to look. If any of you can point me in the right direction, I would certainly appreciate it.

Scrapbooking

My little princess got a scrapbooking kit yesterday and is now into doing this fun yet expensive craft. I must admit that I do have too many pictures that have spent their lives in the original photo lab envelopes. Some of these pictures are more than 20 years old. That's even before scrapbooking was invented.

I do have many things to catch up on but as you may have already read in this previous post, I am notorious for starting things and leaving them half done. When the enthusiasm wears off, well, I go on to other projects. My little princess, however, will see to it that we finish all these pictures because she's not like me in that aspect. She will sit there and finish something until it is completely done.

Thank goodness she's like that as it will help me to keep on track with the scrapbooking. I look forward to it as it seems like it would be so much fun. Although, I may need another table in my crafting room to hold the materials for scrapbooking. Maybe I can get Mr. Sir to convert the garage for us. Make it into a bigger crafting room. Although, he's already planned on converting it into a game room. When that will happen is another story.

Now, I will go to my craft room and start our first page of this scrapbook. We'll see how long I can do this. Wish me luck!