Choices

Ever since I decided to become an independent and start my own business, knowing full well that an entrepreneur needs to h ave four sources of income, I have been travelling down several roads just to find out really where I belong and where I do not belong. I am happy to say the words that even though I was accepted into the Master of Education program at Capella University, online, that I have declined my acceptance and am devoting myself to Bath Thyme and to writing. It is just so empowering to take control that way. In the long run, going to school for my masters degree may not necessarily increase my earning power any more than sticking to what I h ave already begun, and without student loans to pay back no matter what the outcome. The Federal Government's rules and regulations governing student loans reminds me so much of any credit card company. They do no guarantee any help in finding you a job, but no matter what the outcome of our education might be, they still want their money back as tough we were not adding to the quality of life of our community.
Oh Well, I guess that is the way it is, and the only one I can control is myself.

Are we having fun yet?

I have become official. I am now a published writer with the Bozeman magazine, and I am so excited about this project! They were advertising for writers in a variety of subject areas, and I chose to write about the economy. My first article is in the December issue based on Entrepreneurship. I am so looking forward to hearing people comment on the words I wrote. Bath Thyme is slowing down now in the retail sector, so I am submitting my business plan that is partly finished and looking for bigger fish to market my products. I am all set with the Made in Montana sticker and signed up for the summer Farmers Market.

Grateful

How grateful I am to live in such a beautiful place, surrounded by friends who love us, and who support all of our efforts in making a change in our lives when we feel it necessary.
That being said however, I just would like to know why the credit card companies can still get away with frying my brain, very nearly convincing all of us that you cannot do business without a credit card account that my customers can use, and charging me $30.00 a month whether or not I made any sales or not. Meanwhile, Bath Thyme does well in town, face to face business practice where I can actually see and hear the person I am doing business with without the incredibly frustrating, expensive method of cerebral function required to digest and regurgitate all the information that was th rown at me during the long process of setting up my website and making all the arrangements for my theoretical customers to be able to pay for their purchases.
Being the woman that I am, I will turn this anger and frustration into a challenge to not support the robbing of America by adhering to the fear tactics utilized by credit card companies. I will create a customer base that is person to person, not machine to machine, and I will make a very nice living in this manner. By the way, I have redesigned the packaging for the Oatmeal Herb bags, and I now have some soaps available. Let me know how I can be of service. Thanks

Writing for a living

Someone said that words are cheap, but we all must know that the spoken word does create, just as God created the world and all that lives in it. How much fun do you suppose He had designing each flower, each fish and mammal that swims in the waters?
We too, must write because there is passion in our words, because we have no choice but to express our deepest feelings and desires, joys and cares through the written word.
How lovely it would be to be able to make a living at it too! But, whether we make money at it or not, don't we owe it to ourselves to write down those words anyway?
So, this is my post for the day, and I must admit that it is so good to write down the words even if they make no sense to anyone but myself.

Gluten-free Thanksgiving

Rose and I have been gluten free for about 10 years now, and I am just amazed at the number of new magazines that seem to multiply every few months about how to eat gluten free. When I first began this food plan, I refuse to call it a diet, because that is a four-letter word, there was almost no information about the food plan, so I had to use all of my strength to eliminate all the foods that were making me so miserable. The biggest part of the sacrifice were all the comfort foods that I had eaten all of my life, and prepared for the kids when we were all together. So, I went home one night after getting off work late and made myself a very s imple meal of protein and two vegetables, getting off to a great start. I was in such misery before that night, but I can't tell you how much better I felt even that night. So, now I have learned to recognize when I have eaten something that does n ot work, and my arthritis pain is all but gone, as well as about 100 pounds! Hallelujah!
Rose found a recipe a couple years ago for turkey breast stuffed with fennel, onions, a bay leaf, sprinkled with lemon juice, and an apple. If I do an entire turkey I will make a stuffing with sausage, celery, onion, apple, and some slivered almonds maybe. No one objects to having sweet potatoes plus white mashed potatoes and gravy, and we can still really enjoy the cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, peas and pearl onions, and a salad. It all works out, and after just a couple of tries, the new menu tastes just as good, and even better than the traditional.

My New Life and Business

I have worked for someone else my entire life, and I finally jumped off of the fence and started my own business.  Although I wrote my book The Art of Money Management, and published it, I simply have too much energy to sit and write without having some physical work to balance out the intellectual.  So, I have created Bath Thyme, a line of bath products consisting of oatmeal bath bags, milk baths, and bath salts that contain herbs and essential oils that are healing for the body and senses. 
I love learning about herbs and the wide variety of herbs that God gave us for our healing, and I love taking a bath.  In fact, I am in the home I am in because every other apartment that I looked at ten years ago in Bozeman, Montana, did not have a bathtub!  I cannot possibly imagine living somewhere that I could not soak in a lovely, hot bath, especially on cold winter nights. 
So, you can find my bath products at jansplace77,mywebmallstore.com.  I don't have a digital camera yet to take a picture of my products, sorry.  But, business is going well with the locals, and I will have images of my products soon. 

Hello World

Thanks to my friend Marty, who you will find at MrsClaussews.blogspot.com, I have taken the leap and created my own blog in order to begin something new in my life.
The world of the Internet holds many possibilities, and as long as we can make friends, and share our joys, interests, and experiences, life can be a little more pleasant. It is always good to have the opportunity to hear someone else's opinion about the reality of our lives, so that we can add to our own base of knowledge.
Well, I must go and meet my daughter for coffee before we go for a bite to eat and choir practice. Yes, we sing at a local church, an experience I find very gratifying.
Write soon, world, and share with me.
Yours, Jan