Life as a Tastefully Simple Consultant

So i'm not sure if anyone is really curious about this or not, but since I care about it I'm going to go ahead and write about it.

Back in October (as I believe I wrote on here) I was looking for something to do in my free time that would generate some income. My mom mentioned Tastefully Simple, which I had heard of very briefly. I looked at their site and decided that people like food, right? How hard could it be to sell that?? After writing about it on here, my now sponsor Tracy contacted me to see if I wanted more information and after talking with her, I joined up!

I started with a Grand Opening Party in November which went very well and I had a great time making the easy to prepare food, explaining it to my family and friends and then I chose a winner for the rewards the party generated. I have learned a TON since that first party and at each party I learn a little bit more.

I've done a handful of parties for friends and family since that time, one fundraiser for Relay 4 Life and one event, which was a community yard sale. Some parties weren't super successful and some were. All great learning experiences for sure! I have an event coming up on Saturday at Seven Valley's Winery in York which I'm very excited about. I know I will learn a lot from this too and I really hope to book some catalog parties for the months of July and August as well as some possible Fall Tasting Parties.

A Tasting Party is where the host prepares food samples for guests to taste before ordering. A Catalog Party is where the host takes catalogs and order forms around to family and friends over a longer period and collects orders to earn rewards. I set up Catalog Parties to also include two samples for tasting purposes. Facebook is pretty big right now with these types of parties because family and friends can just go online and order directly if they cannot make the Tasting Party or won't see the host in time to order for the Catalog Party.

Like I said, I have done one fundraiser so far. I am very interested in doing more but it's a little bit hard to get my name out there currently since I don't have school aged children. There are ways to do it that I plan to look into but for now, I send out messages to people I am interested in working with to see if they're interested in working with me.

Overall, the experience has been very positive and fun! My sponsor Tracy is amazing and she answers any and every single question I have and is a great role model because she has a ton of fundraisers going and sponsors a large number of consultants and that number keeps on growing! I'm part of her team's Facebook Group which is extremely helpful. There are plenty of TS Facebook groups that are helpful for sure, it's a great place to get new ideas from other consultants.

I have one recruit so far and hope to have more in the future. I currently have a coupon code for $100 off the Business Blast Off Kit. I've been told this is the first time they've ever done this (you end up paying about $70) and I'm hoping it's been successful so that they run it every year. My code expires July 10th so the clock is ticking. If you've ever thought about doing a business like this, now is the time. It really is easy and it's actually fun.

A couple years ago, I had a Pampered Chef Party and the consultant was very nice but used all the sales cliches you can think of to try to get me to sign on. I have absolutely nothing against PC.. I have tons of products from that party that I use all the time and I love them! I just thought at that time that I could never do that. I could never be a consultant like she was. She was very very nice but I didn't enjoy the extra pushes, though I now understand she was probably just following the playbook. If you don't talk about the opportunity to join, you'll never know if they would've said yes.

In conclusion, lol .. I am very happy to be a Tastefully Simple Consultant. And though I may not talk about it much, I am working on that. To be completely honest, my target demographic is older than I am so it's more difficult to get into those circles but I'm working on it. I want to be successful and I know I can do it!

If you ever have questions related to it, please let me know! I'd be happy to answer them!

If you want to order, you can go to my website at www.tastefullysimple.com/web/mbrubaker OR send me a message. I offer great incentives for hosts as well if you're interested in that. I try to make it as easy as possible for you to have a successful and positive experience while earning free stuff!

Let's talk about Scarlett!

Here's an update of how our girl is doing. I don't have stats because they were last taken at 15 months and she's currently 17 months. All I can tell you right now is she's over 26 lbs, her height is in the 98% and her head size is off the charts, haha!

She rarely walks, it's mostly running. She climbs. She holds our hands when she's forced to. She's an explorer to the max. She says about 40 words that we've counted and learns new ones every day. She absolutely loves fruit, especially any type of berry. She's a very good eater and hasn't turned too much down. She doesn't enjoy sweet potatoes much, but loves olives and pickles!

She still takes two naps a day and I love it. It must be all the exploring that makes her tired. If she's 'on schedule' she wakes up around 6:15, takes a nap around 9:30 (these vary in length) and then lays down again around 3:30/4 when we're home, if we're out, she's fine without a nap. She goes to bed consistently at 8pm each evening. She's a light sleeper and goes through sleep cycles often so it's not unusual to hear her make noises at night.

She gives us hugs and kisses. She doesn't generally like older people, especially if they have white hair. Sometimes it takes her 10 minutes to warm up to people she doesn't know. She plays with her princesses in their castle now and makes them hug and kiss. She pretty much makes everything hug and kiss. When she hugs her stuffed animals she says "aww!" and then I die of the cuteness. She loves reading books. Her favorite was 'Goodnight Beach' but more recently it's 'Goodnight Pennsylvania'. She thoroughly enjoys the iPad and any iPhone she can get her hands on. She really likes Sofia the First and Little Einsteins. She likes to dance so she likes the shows that sing a lot. She rarely watches anything on TV unless it's a commerical.

She has almost all of her teeth, she's missing a front lateral incisor on the bottom and all of her cuspids. She has taken a while to get her teeth so we don't expect the cuspids for a while, who knows what's going on with the incisor. Teething does bother her from time to time so we use the numbing gel (put onto her paci) and occasionally some Tylenol or Motrin but rarely a full dose.

I just thought today that I should write down some "Parent Tid-Bits" that I have, one being.. when you go to the grocery store, always park close to the cart return.. this way you can get a cart on the way in and you're close to it when you need to return it at the end of the trip. I probably thought about it more today after carrying her into multiple places while walking a semi-far distance while 34 weeks pregnant. I'll try to document more as they come up.

Overall, Scarlett is full of love. She smiles a lot and she laughs a lot. Her personality seems very fun-loving and we're thrilled that she is growing into such a little darling (who never sits still).

Pregnancy Update!

Today, I am 34 weeks and 3 days along. There are roughly 5-6 weeks remaining. This is crazy to me.

Time flies when you're already chasing after a wee one who is a non-stop mover/shaker. Let's review the past couple of trimesters, shall we?

1st Trimester
Everything went just as smoothly as it did with Scarlett. Small hiccup with an umbilical cyst but it resolved itself within a couple of weeks (probably a pretty common occurrence). No more tired or hormonal than usual and no morning sickness. Score! We told our families and friends around Christmas and New Years if not sooner. We didn't wait until we were out of the first trimester to spill the beans. Bumps grow much faster the second time around though too, so people probably knew!

2nd Trimester
Bump continued its growth spurts. I felt the first flutters and Alex felt movement soon after that. We found out we were having a baby boy! And we decided on his first name, which will remain secret until his birth. Sleeping became more difficult as time went on and I was forced to move from belly/back sleeping to side/side sleeping.

There's his little face!

3rd Trimester
I generally feel huge but I've come to terms with it. This boy does some crazy acrobatics in there that I didn't experience with Scarlett because of her position. He tends to sleep when I'm sleeping with naps throughout the day as well. He has been in numerous positions but stressed me a wee bit the past 4-5 weeks with the midwives saying he was breech. Today they said he's head down so he better stay that way. I am trying for a VBAC so wish me luck! I haven't had any braxton hicks but did have some belly button pain that went away with some rest. Also some groin pain when I over-do it, which also goes away with rest. I just have so much to do it's hard to slow down sometimes.

With 5 1/2 weeks left I have a full plan of things to clean and organize. I need to wash all of his baby clothing and organize the closet and my dresser drawer they'll be stored in. I need to move Scarlett from her crib into the other crib we have so that the baby can be in the drop side in our room. I need to pack a hospital bag at some point and maybe read about labor since I hope to go into it at some point. I need to bust out the car seat base from Scarlett and put it in my car and set up the pack and play and get out the bouncer seat from storage. The list goes on..

I haven't done anything nursery related because it's our current guest room and that will probably stay that way until he moves upstairs which will be when we're closer to being out of winter around 6 months.

That pretty much sums it up. Almost my whole pregnancy right there in a nutshell.

I'm baaaaack!

So lots has been going on around here lately so I'll start by explaining the absence!

 Last fall, work started getting pretty stressful and in addition to my part time hours, I started working at home as well during Scarlett's nap times and sometimes even in the evening. This contributed to the slow down of posting to the blog.

In November, I got pregnant (found out in December) plus the holiday season which seemed busier than previous years, probably because I had Scarlett to think about and plan for! I also started as a Tastefully Simple Consultant, so that took up some of my free time as well.

In the beginning of 2013, we had Scarlett's birthday party which was a blast, then in addition to working my part time job while at home, I also started a freelance project that also took more free time. Work was still pretty stressful so Alex and I started thinking about August (our due month) and how we were going to handle having two children with me working part time and if it would be worth it to look into me staying home.

Alex got a new job April 1st which has been a huge blessing. He is about 200x happier in this position and I really feel that he is now on a career path instead of just having a job. He has been loving it so far and I just know that will continue!

In May, we made the decision that I would stop working mid-June right before our vacations with our families. I put in three weeks notice after Memorial Day. My lovely coworkers threw me a surprise baby shower/best wishes party prior to my departure and it was all very bittersweet. Working at the same place for almost six years was such a great experience. I learned so very much and I'm thankful for all the great people I met there.

I went to OBX with my family a couple weeks ago and then met Alex and his family in Bethany Beach the following weekend for a few days there. I will write separate posts on those fun times with pictures! Returning last week and not going back to work on Thursday was a bit strange, and this week will be my first official full week without a steady job.

It's exciting (and a little scary) but I just know this is the right decision for our family and I am so thankful that we are in a position to do this. Plus, I can get back to writing here and documenting our life, if not just for myself, for my family and friends as well!

I definitely feel that our little boy hasn't gotten the blog attention that I dedicated to Scarlett over her time in utero but I'm going to write a couple of posts on it now and then definitely keep up on it when he arrives. Having a blog like this is like having a baby book and I love going back and reading about Scarlett and my pregnancy with her. I can't wait to do the same with him.

So stay tuned.. !

This past weekend

This past weekend was pretty eventful. Friday during the day I went up to see my mom and sisters with Scarlett and also saw my grandmother. Later, I got my niece from my oldest sister and brought her back home with me for a sleepover. We had grilled cheese for dinner and watched The Smurfs :) Went to bed early bc we were tired and I slept most of the night hugging the edge.

Saturday, I had a Tastefully Simple party in the afternoon, so we all hung out in the morning, we watched one of the Narnia movies, Scarlett napped, I prepped for the party and soon enough it was time to go. I took my niece back to my sister and headed to the party. I learn more and more each time I do one of these and I think/hope that is making me better at it. My least favorite part is heating up the hot beverage and the soup.. neither of them really stayed hot for me or even warm really. I made new note cards though which helped immensely. It felt like we flew through the tasting part. I think next time I will engage people more, go around and introduce ourselves and if we've ever been to a TS party before, etc. Just to get people talking. A lot of people knew each other so that was good but I will remember this for next time. The party went well and I headed home around six. Hung out with Scarlett for a bit then put her to bed. Alex and I didn't do much after that, I enter orders plus we did our usual tv watching and also heading to bed early.. we're pretty early to bed these days with a 6am wake up call each morning.

Sunday, we had all day to relax until a Super Bowl party later on. We did our usual stuff. Alex has been re-seasoning some cast iron skillets for family members so he worked on that a little bit. I went to the grocery store for some supplies and made a yummy salad for this week's lunches. I posted the recipe here.. I got it from Pinterest and it's so easy and delicious! We headed to the super bowl party around four and had a great time as we usually do with our friends. It was so fun watching our girls play together.. or beside each other. And it's awesome to watch them all grow up. We went home at halftime and Scarlett went right to bed. Alex stayed up to watch the game and I headed to bed around nine thirty.

Overall a great weekend. I love the mix of relaxation and plans. I think our coming weekends will be more of the same and I'll do my best to take more pictures of these events! :)

12-13 weeks: round 2

Last Friday I was 13 weeks along but thought I would recap the last two weeks and even into the beginning of my pregnancy.. I talked about how we found out and more details about that in the last post.

My pregnancy so far has been going swimmingly. Pretty much the same as last time except a little more tired.. I attribute this to waking up at 6am every morning as opposed to last time when I could sleep longer.

I'm not having any food aversions or serious cravings, usually I hear something and it either sounds good or sounds gross, usually there are more goods then grosses. I have been reigning myself in though for the most part and def not going crazy food wise like I did at the end of the last go round. I want to gain less weight this time and make it easier to lose afterward.

No morning sickness in the first trimester again which was glorious.. I can't imagine having to deal with that while watching after Scarlett. I'm also starting to get to the chub phase where I look more chubby than pregnant. At the end of the day it's def a baby bump but in the morning, it's just plain chub. Photos coming soon.

Thus far we've had two ultrasounds, that's two more than we had with Scarlett at this point. It's def fun to see the baby but crazy that its less than an inch (8 weeks) then about two inches (12 weeks) and you can see it moving but can't feel it. We're looking forward to finding out the gender in 7 weeks! Sounds like a long time but these days are flying, I can't believe I'm already 13 weeks!

Until next time..

Number Two

We have some exciting news to share, we're expecting number baby two! Most of you know this already!

We found out mid-December and since then have found out the due date which is August 9th!

The gist of the finding out story is, we've basically been 'trying' since Scarlett was born. I breastfeed for 9 months until my supply dipped so low we switched to formula. That's when I got pregnant. I had been waiting for weeks to finally cycle and had a weird inkling that on Nov 10th I was ovulating.. I waited 5 weeks after that to test for pregnancy since I had just tested around the 10th and I was basically testing once a month anyway. We were pretty surprised when the test was positive. I texted a photo to Alex and then had to go buy more tests bc of course that was my last one! I called the doctor the following day and scheduled the first appointment. I don't know why they didn't just schedule me and ultrasound right then since I told them there was no way to know when I was due. But in went for the blood test and normal first appt. It was at a different location than I was used to which was annoying bc I took Scarlett and I had to walk around for a while and ask people before I found it. And she's heavy! Giving blood was a real treat as Scarlett wiggled around after prematurely finishing the bottle I brought to drink while i gave blood. :) I scheduled the ultrasound for the following week though, silly Christmas time schedules.

The ultrasound determined the date as August 9th, which was close to both Alex's and my guess of mid-August. It was fun to see the babe on the screen looking like a tiny bean. They found a cyst on the umbilical cord which I did not find out until someone called a couple days later, maybe they had to send it for more tests or something.. Regardless they wanted a follow up ultrasound at 12 weeks, which was fine with us. Apparently these are common and usually resolve and aren't even seen bc most people don't have early ultrasounds.

At 12 weeks, we got that ultrasound and everything is cleared up and looking good. We always decline the first trimester screen but kind of got it as a freebie bc they tested/measured that stuff during this ultrasound to rule out most chromosomal abnormalities.

Here we are now, weekly posts coming soon!

And Here's to 7 more healthy months and hopefully a successful vbac!