Still in the Blogosphere!

Wow, I have been absent in the blogosphere! Well, as you know, I have gone back to school and now am an Edison State School student, majoring in business management! Not only is it a wonderful opportunity to advance in my company (my employer has a tuition reimbursement program) but it also will be helpful in managing my own Avon business, and who could possible turn down the “student” prices at the movies and other events?!

This deal has come in handy as I have purchased tickets for Nils, Shaylee and I to attend the Cirque du Soleil: Saltimbanco performance at the Germain Arena! I have always, always, always wanted to see Cirque du Soleil live and could not wait to jump at the opportunity to see it local! I saved $10 off my admission ticket just by being a student! Shaylee’s ticket cost more than mine! So $121.95 later, we have an extremely fun family night planned for July 9^th.

Its being held at the same arena that my high school graduation was held; only about 15 minutes from our house! I think Shaylee is really going to like it. She liked the stunts and music at the circus we took her too and this is circus like, only a million times better!

I have been busy planning a very big day for a special little girl. Shaylee’s 3^rd birthday is less than three weeks away! We (meaning I) decided on a bowling theme. The decision was based much on the fact that we really don’t have many friends with children Shaylee’s age, or family members for that matter, and I really didn’t want to have ANOTHER pool party at my grandmothers. I wanted something fun…different…and my first thought was bowling. Shaylee has gone bowling once before on free passes that I acquired at work and really seemed to enjoy it. Nils and I have always enjoyed bowling as well and often went before we had Shaylee. Bowling seemed like the perfect fit for the last year we will probably be without playmates for Shaylee. Next year is sure to bring more as she gets closer to school age so it would be nice to have a party where everyone, no matter how old, can participate. And can you believe my mom has NEVER been bowling before?! She agreed to be in the lane with the gutter bumpers, LOL.

Since the party is going to be held at Gator Lanes, our local bowling alley, I crafted an alligator with a bowling ball out of polymer clay then baked it until it was hard. This is going to be her cake topper. I also found a mini plastic bowling kit in the dollar section of Target. The pins are about 1 to 1 ½ inch high and would be perfect to decorate the cake with as well. I called around to have a cake specially made in the particular colors (red and turquoise) of the paper cake plates and napkins I picked out, but I was not willing to spend $80 on a fondant 14 inch vanilla cake, so it’s probably going to be from our good ‘ol Publix grocery store bakery. They make super yummy cakes anyways and I know they carry icing in the color I need.

The invitations were created using a site called Scrapblog.com. It’s actually a digital scrapbook site but I found that you can make greeting cards and such as well. The bowling theme is kinda retro, not too kiddy-ish, but still fun. I just saved my final result as a jpg file and sent it to Snapfish, a photo storage and printing site, to have printed on matte 4x6 photo stock. They came out so cute!

Fortunately Gator Lanes offers a Family Fun pack which includes 2 hours of bowling plus shoe rentals, a large cheese pizza, and a pitcher of soda for 6 people for $42. Its probably going to cost me about three Family Fun packs to accommodate all our guest, but that’s not only including location, entertainment, but also food- had I chosen another venue, I probably would have spend twice as much to cover these things.

For the party favors, I wanted to avoid buying a bunch of little junk that would just get thrown away, so I picked out glow in the dark bracelets. The kids and adults can wear them while bowling under the blacklights and it will look really cool.

As for my Avon business, I have yet to see a profit as I tend to spend it up on my own goodies! I have no complaint though. The products are awesome, and of very good quality. Plus I get mine at cost so its not so bad. My most recent purchase was an entire skin care line by Anew. I am pushing 30 and now is the best time to start maintaining my youth! So if anyone you know is interested, I have an online store at www.youravon.com/seugeniolaufer. Anyone can order from their and you can opt to have your items delivered right to your door. I am trying my best to get sales as there are special awards and perks when you sell a certain amount. My first goal is to make President’s Club. I would need to sell $10,010 by December (so far I am at $1,056- and I have only been selling for 4 campaigns- each campaign is 2 weeks long).

School is going really well. I have my first algebra exam this Wednesday, and I am confident that I will pass. I have taken really good notes and have been diligent in my work. I even bought the supplemental book to my textbook that has all the exercise answers in it so that I can check my work. I do my homework, check my answers, then- without looking at the answer book again- redo the math problem, check the answer again, and continue until I am able to figure out the problem and get the right answer. Working the problems until I get them right has helped me grasp the concept better. Also, I always rewrite my assignments so I can see and write out the problems again. If there is any problems I just can’t seem to get, I highlight them and have my instructor work them on the board during the next class meeting.

My computer class is being done online at home. I thought I would prefer not having to go to class on campus but I actually like being in a classroom setting better than trying to do it at home. My course isn’t hard really. Its all about Windows XP which I am already somewhat familiar with, I just don’t know all the fancy terms and special document features. My assignments are step by step instructions out of a text book so as long as you can read and follow directions, you can complete the assignments. It doesn’t really require any thinking on my part, actually, which worries me. I have already taken two of my exams which were okay. I am a little worried that when midterms come around, which is a proctored exam, I will not have absorbed all the information I have been applying to the assignments. Proctored examination means having to sit in an examination room and taking the test without notes or your textbook, under supervision of a professor or other instructor. I am not sure if it is permitted or not, but I used my notes on one or two questions on the other exams. I hope that is not considered cheating?! I didn’t see anything in the syllabus that said otherwise.

As if school, work, Avon, and family stuff weren’t enough, I also have been attending a class at my church called Discover 101. It looks into what my church is all about. It runs for four weeks before moving into Discover 201 and 301 which look deeper into having a relationship with God. My grandmother is also attending with me on Sundays while Shaylee has been enjoying “Sunday school”. I really appreciate that New Day Christian Church has this class because it’s perfect for people like me who really never had a relationship with Our Father, and are not sure where to start.

So needless to say, I have been busy!! (Did I mention I am also planning a family summer vacation to Disney’s Animal Kingdom in August, LOL!) So if at any point there is a gap in my blog updates, please realize its because I am a busy, busy girl!