My First Vendor Booth

A few months ago I became a Thrive Life Consultant. Thrive is a company that produces and sell, through direct sales, freeze dried – long term food for storage. The food is amazing and delicious. I love it. So I thought a great way to get my name out there and build awareness is to have a vendor booth at various places. My first was yesterday. At a fundraiser for a local non-profit company called Pink Peas.

I shared my table with my friend Emily Smith, who does newborn and birth photography!

I wasn’t too successful, not parties booked or sales, but I took it as a learning experience and THAT was worth it! I can’t wait to do my next booth!!!

Canning Pickles!!!

I have REALLY gotten into food preservation this year! I did a whole batch of tomatoes that were given to me (score), and yesterday some friends and I went here… Gilcrease Orchard and picked our own cucumbers for pickling. This was my first attempt to pickle cucumbers, I can’t wait to try them out in a few weeks.

 

This crazy lady is my friend Amber – she’s amazing and I just love her. All pictures go to her credit – without her skills behind the camera – I wouldn’t look this good!!!

Cucumbers and okra – ready for the pickin’!

I think she got my good side… I hope so! Anyways. I have never picked cucumbers or okra before, thankfully there were some very helpful and quite knowledgeable workers there to help me out. I was fascinated to see the little spikey nubs on the cucumbers!!!

Prep time! Wash… Slice… Pack… Can… Repeat!!!

Did I mention we were going to make our own relish too!!!

All done! It took us several hours to complete everything, but we had a ton of fun doing it! We totaled 48 jars of pickles, relish and okra and even made our own cucumber scrub with the scraps! Check out my awesome prepper/canning/self-reliant skills!!!

Preparedness, for me, is not about doomsday, Armageddon, a hostile government takeover or any other radical idea like that. It’s about being able to provide for yourself when times get tough. It’s about that case of Meningitis that Jonathon had earlier this year, or the partner that messed with out hours at work. It’s about real life. Sometimes life doesn’t go as we plan. Sometimes it’s not all rainbows and sunny days. Dark clouds and rain are always threatening to destroy the sun. The question is will you have the umbrella to keep you dry – to a weathered piece of newspaper – or even nothing at all?

1st Day @ Pinecrest Academy

I’M FIRED!!! I didn’t get a good picture of Ethen going to his new school today!

Oh well!!!

Ethen started at Pinecrest Academy today! We got there early so we could meet his teacher, Ms. Homan, and get situated. At first he was super excited about going to a new school, but then the nerves set in and he didn’t want anything to do with it!

As Jonathon and I went to pick up Ethen we spoke with one of the teacher’s aides, that happened to be the 1st grade aide and worked with Ethen today! She said he did great today and by lunch time he was playing and having fun with the kids and making friends!

THAT’S MY BOY!!!

So here are some pictures that I snapped with my phone while we were waiting to go into the school this morning!

Of course Ethen was being silly and making faces – I love that kid!!!

Brandy

School Changes and a Very Busy Mom!

These past couple of weeks have been eventful! Jonathon is part of a group called The Nevada Watchmen and another wife and I decided that it was time to form a ladies auxiliary of said group. Our focus is to support the men in their trainings but also to bring a positive image to what we do. We are not a group of fanatic doomsday preppers, a militia (which is a common misconception), political activists or vigilantes - all we are is a group of people that feel the need to be prepared for any situation. We're like the boy scouts - but cooler! (not that the Boy Scouts aren't cool - I love the scouts!)

So we set off to form this group, even wrote a charter, and presented it to the guys. Of course they were all for it because our focus was on things that they weren't too concerned about but are still necessary - like food preservation, 1st Aid and self defense. We kicked off our group events with a Ladies Night Out to the range! We had a GREAT time at Green Valley Range and the staff and RSO's were AHHHHHH-MAZING!!!

Time to send some rounds down range!!!

Gonna teach Patricia how to shoot the AR-15!!!

I love Amber’s facial expression!!!

That’s one dead piece of paper!!!

It was so much fun meeting the ladies from Hot with Heat Holsters and Accessories and Kim and Mary from Green Valley Range!

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Back in January I had placed Ethen’s name in a lottery to be accepted into a local Charter School here in Henderson called Pinecrest Academy. Pinecrest is an amazing school and I have heard nothing but positive feedback about it. Unfortunately his number wasn’t pulled! Oh well – so he continues at Robert Taylor! Well as I was preparing for Ladies Night Out (see above) I receive a phone call from the registrar at Pinecrest saying they had an opening and Ethen was in! I about screamed for joy!!! I spent the next day rushing around to get him withdrawn from Taylor and submitting all the necessary paperwork. Since Ethen had a previous IEP for speech I had to submit that as well. I’m excited to say that Ethen starts at Pinecrest tomorrow!!!

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Since starting the women’s group – appropriately named Women of Nevada Watchmen – we have created a fan page on Facebook, a pinterest board and even a blog. We REALLY want to spread a positive light and feel that social media will be the best way to accomplish that! Here are the links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/WomenofNW

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/nevadawatchmen

Blog: http://womenofnevadawatchmen.blogspot.com

Looks like we are gonna be busy!!!